Rise of the Guardians: An unexpected threat
by Ryydman
Summary: Pitch is gone. But a new threat rises. From the place you would have never imagined. This is not about protecting children anymore but about protecting guardians them selves as well. Rated T because of the later chapters. Violence and death. No slash.
1. Birthday

"Happy birthday, Jack!"

Jack couldn't stop smiling. Even when he was trying his best. He tried to get an annoyed tone to come out from his throat, but he failed miserably.

"It's not my birthday, actually. It's, like, my deathday."

"Is there actually something like a deathday?" Bunny asked, rolling his eyes. He was acting like he didn't care at all about the winter spirit's birthday, but of course he cared. If he didn't, he wouldn't be here.

"But we have no idea when your real birthday is, so let's celebrate the day when you became immortal. That is kind of rebirth, isn't it?" North asked, his eyes sparkling like always.

"Kind of. But it's sad to celebrate someone's death so we'll call this 'the day when you became one of us for the rest of the eternity' -day!" Everyone, even Sandy turned to look at Tooth. She blushed slightly when she realized how weird that had sounded.

"That's a bit too long. Let's just call it re-birthday and I'm happy," Jack said, with a laugh.

Everyone sat down around the table where there was a HUGE cake. Jack was sure it was the yeti who had made it because it was so perfect in any ways. Jack was sure, by looking at it, that it would taste absolutely wonderful. The text 'Happy Birthday, Jack!' was written so straight across it that it looked almost like it was made by a machine.

And there were candles – at least 300 of them. But he knew from experience that it wasn't actually a lot compared to the others. Tooth had been really embarrassed when her cake was covered with at least 1,050 candles. Bunny had 1,700. North had 1,730. But Sandy held the record with 2,800 candles. So, basically, Jack was the youngest one of them.

These days, Jack actually lived at Santoff Clausen. At last it was what he called 'home'. Really, he was there for spring and autumn. Summer he spent at the South Pole, because it was winter there when in the North, it was summer. It was too hot for him go outside to either of poles in spring and autumn. But in the winter and summer he took off and spent almost all his time out.

"How old actually are you, Icicle?" Bunny asked while Jack was taking the first piece of the cake. It took a while before he gave his answer.

"Three hundred seventeen, plus sixteen years because I was sixteen when I died. So technically I'm three hundred and thirty-three now," he said, while tasting the cake. He had been right - it was absolutely wonderful. Tooth looked at him, a bit grumpily. The fairy obviously didn't like that he was ruining his beautiful teeth with sugar. She glared at the other guardians as well while she ate her own piece of cake that had no sugar or caffeine or anything that could harm her beautiful teeth. Jack thought it was only xylitol.

Sandy jumped happily in place. Above his head were three threes and an exclamation point. North laughed.

"Yes, Sandy, triple three. This is lucky day, Jack. Or should it be your lucky year?" North laughed. Bunny rolled his eyes.

"The one day when Icicle here is lucky is the worst day for the world," the Pooka said. His head hit the table when a snowball flew right into his occipital. Jack began to laugh when he realized that Bunny's face had collided with his cake. Quickly, he shuffled away from the table and out of Bunny's reach. Lightly he jumped on his staff and stood there balancing and laughing. Which were, by the way, hard to do at the same time.

"Bull's eye!"

"... I'm not kidding. This time I'll kill you!" Bunny muttered angrily before turning around to throw Jack's plate of cake right toward the winter spirit. It was a really close one and Jack was able to dodge it only barely.

"Wow! That was close! But catch me if you can, kangaroo!" the winter spirit said, laughing, and with a light jump, he was out of the open window, an angry Bunny jumping right after him.

Tooth and North looked at each other.

"Every year."

"Yep. And this has only happened 16 times. We have the rest of the eternity time to see if they will ever stop."

Sandy smiled and took another piece of cake.

**Special thanks to **_**galacticEntity**_** from Beta reading! 3 **


	2. Jamie

Jack let wind take him as far as it could. It didn't matter where he was going. That was what he loved of being immortal spirit. It just didn't matter where or when he was. It was fun when people were trying their best to guess where he was going next. Weather news were almost always frong because no-one would never really know where he was heading because even he didn't know where he would be next.

This time also he just let the wind take him somewhere. Finland? People were exepting really cold for a week so including to their weather news, he should be there now. Nope, this time it was Canada. Jack really loved his job. No rules, no schedules. Like snowflake he flew over Atlantic Ocean and in no time he had arrived to Canada. Well, he was here so he could go visit Jamie!

Jack took his way to Jamie's house. Winter spirit landed softly on the roof and walked to Jamie's room's window. He put his staff to rest on his shoulder while he was waiting for Jamie to open the window. It was a while when he had visited the kid last time so he was really looking forward to see the kid.

When Jack saw the lights light up in the room, he smiled and knocked on the window. It took a second before he realized that it was Jamie's mother who entered in the room. She looked a bit sad, but not seariously depressed. Jack smiled. He had forgotten that Jamie was now 23 so of course he didn't live in his old home anymore. He had even visited Jamie's new house couple years ago. Funny that he had forgotten that completely.

Jack blow a little and behind the window appeared a small ice car. Jamie's mother saw it and rushed to look it closer. She was confused but couldn't stop smiling. Car melted before she even got to show it to her husband.

That time Jack was already on the other state. He arrivet to Jamie's present home in minutes. Jack didn't like this house as much at Jamie's old house. This was modern, big and didn't just feel as welcome as Jamie's childhood home. But maybe it was just that people were following their time. Jack had lived in small cottage when he was a human and it had felt comfortable to him. Today's people would have thought that his time's home had been sad, small and cold. But it was that time. Now is now.

Jack knocked once again on the window. It took only seconds before Jamie arrived to open the big glass door on his balcony.

"Jack! It's been a long time!" the boy... No, the man said smiling. Jack jumped on balcony and walked carefreely inside the house.

"Yeah, it's been a while. I had my hands full last winter!" Jack said laughing. He felt a bit sad when he realized that Jamie was really much taller than him. Even more sad he felt when he saw a few too many liquor bottle on the kitchen table.

Jamie closed the door and turned to his friend.

"I saw you on the news. What on earth were you doing in China?" Jamie asked laughing.

It had been really big new: China had it's history's biggest storm in middle of the winter. That wasn't the funny part, Jack had been fighting with Pitch and things quit of ran out of hand. But the funny part was that after the fight, Jack had to make it up for the people so he made a village of ice for those who had lost their homes during the fight. And he had made sure that everyone had fun playing in snow.

Everyone had wondered where the ice houses came from. Only some children said it was Jack Frost but of course adults didn't believe that. Almost all other countries were a bit confused when even adults were making snow-angels like three-years-olds. But everything had turned allright in the end. Jack had made sure that he could do as much as possible for everyone who had suffered from the storm.

Jack had taken his chance and played as much as he could in front of cameras that were filming for news about happenings in China. He did all of it: looked bored when reporter talked passionately about this miracle and more than once he made reporter dig their noce in live news. The best brank Jamie remembered Jack doing was that he had once stripped his pants off and showed his ass for a reporder who had said that this tragedy must have been sigh of the end of the world.

North however didn't liked it. He said there was some children who really saw him so it would not be a good examble for kids.

"Nah, Pitch was just a pain in the ass. But I tried to fix it as much I could. But enough about me, how are you doing?" Jack asked smiling when he jumped lightly on a livingroom's caffee table. It was glass, but Jamie knew that Jack was too light to broke it. The winter spirit weighted hardly anything.

Jack wasn't suprised when Jamie looked immidiately a bit uncomfortable.

"You know... normal. Just normal. People still think I'm crazy because I still believe in you guys. But I don't want to stop believing. World is much brighter when I know that you guys are here", Jamie said. He had suffered a lot because of his believe. He had lost his girlfriend, his mother and father were worried about his mental health and he had really trouble to get friends. He had tried not to tell anyone that he still believed in Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus but somehow people still found it out and thought it was too weird to adult believe in fairytails.

He had been bullied in school and in work. That had scarred him for a life.

Jack looked sympathetically at his friend.

"Jamie. You don't have to believe in us anymore. You seem to suffer because of it so maybe it's best for you finally let go", Jack said. That hurt him too because even if he finally had many believers (not even close as many as others but he still had them) Jamie was still the first one. Jamie would always have a special place in winter spirit's heard. But it was time for Jamie to grow up finally. And Jack had to let him grow.

But Jamie shook his head.

"No. You guys are the only ones that I have anymore. If I lose you, I have nothing. I'm more happy when I know that I have friends than take a risk for just a chance to get new ones. There is no any promices that the grass would be greener on the other side of the fence", Jamie said smiling a bit.

Jack sighed. He knew how Jamie was feeling. To any other people Jamie was nobody. He didn't exist. That was the worst feeling what anyone could feel.

"I know it's scary. But if you could just slowly let go. You don't have to, but it may ease your life", Jack said but Jamie didn't listen to him.

"You want something to drink? Or eat? Or watch a movie? It's been so long cense we saw last time so let's not talk about sad things", Jamie looked much more comfortable when he chainsed the subject.

Jack felt his heard fall into his stomach. Jamie wasn't allright and it pained him when he wasn't able to make the man listen to him. Even worse was that Jack didn't know did he really wanted Jamie to stop believing in him. They were friends after all. He didn't want to lose a friend.

So he desided to go along with Jamie. Maybe he will try to chance Jamie's mind later.

"You know that I can't drink anything, all liquid just freezes when I try to drink it. But if you have something salty then it will do. I already ate too much sugar. Tooth will kill me if I have even one hole in one teeth", Jack said and lightly he swung himself as a feather in to kitchen.

They spend rest of the evening just talking about everything. When the night came, Jack made sure that Jamie went to sleep before he took off and spend the night making soft snow cover almost all of the Canada.


	3. Sugar rat

By the morning Jack was happy to his handwork. Someone might think him crazy but he actually cared for every single one of his snowflakes. Yes, e-v-e-r-y single one of them. They all were diffrend. This was art. And only his imaginary was a limit. His job was all fun and playing but he took it death seariously. And he loved it with all his heart.

Only bad thing was that some people and animals were suffering because of his job. Winter always took someone's life. But after so many winters Jack was able to forgive himself. He was just doing his job. Even if some animals and some people died because of it, his winter was life saviour for some animals and some people. Image what would happen to polar bears if all ice melted away. That's right, they all would be dead. Same fate would face many other animals and even some humans as well so he had to do his job.

Jack leaned to his staff smiling and watched childrens' plays in snow. He was tired but happy. Now it was time for him to rest.

The winter spirit let the wind take him back to North pole. Bunny propably already knew that he was in Canada so he had to move off now. In no time he arrived to North. One window had been left open for him. North knew that he would rather arrive throught the window just like Santa wanted to arrive throught the fire place.

Jack flew inside and landed voicelessly on the stone floor. His room was cold and there wasn't anything special in it. Just bed which he newer actually used and a table with chair and closed for clothers. But to him it was more than that. It was his place. His own. His safety from other guardians and the rest of the world if he just needed to be alone. Plus it was almost just like his home when he was a human. It felt home. It was his second home. The other was the lake where he had died and reborn. Those were the two special places to him in this world. Lake was the place he had lived when he was alive. But here in North was his friends. Well, at last some times.

Jack left his room and almost danced between yets who were prepearing for Christmas. Jack quickly found what he was looking for: North.

"It's supposed to be a doll-girl! Not a frankenstain! That airplane is not flying straight. Fix it!" Elves came to North and showed their new toy: clothespins. They had but them all around their big ears. "Nice! Keep up making good toys!"

North was always on a good mood. He loved his job just like Jack did. He took it deadly seraiously too and just like Jack, he too took it all just open armed and embraced his powers to bring joy to children.

The winter spirit saw a pile of cookies that weren't yet been aten once by elves. Those was North's snacks. Jack grinned with his evil smirk. Santa would never realize if he stole one of the cookies. Without any noice he sneaked behind the man and reached for a cookie. He got his kicks by being naughty.

"Jack, you are the most welcome to take a cookie if you want!" Santa said frozeing the Frost himself as he was. With wide eyed he looked at Santa. He was still looking at yets and yelled his orders around like he had said nothing.

"Th... Thanks..." Jack muttered but didn't take a cookie. It wasn't as fun if you were allowed to take it. It was more fun to steal.

"I have my eyes on my back when it cames to you. You have a bad habit of sneaking around doing you branks", North said but he didn't look or sound angry. To him Jack was like one of the elves. Only bigger and smarter one. To some he could be a pain in the ass but Santa had enough humor to laugh the kid's jokes.

"Don't worry, some day I'll suprice you", Jack said with a evil laugh before he finally took a cookie and jumped on a table. The yet behind the table looked at him like he was an annoying fly. Jack didn't let it disturbe him self.

"Hah hah! I want to see that day!" Santa laughed heardly. Of course some day Jack would suprice him. It was only matter of time. But North would take it all with curiosity. How winter spirit was going to suprice him, that really was interesting.

"But seariously. I really wanted to talk you about Jamie", Jack almost whispered, but it Santa heart him still. It was strange how well he heard everyone who had troubles and wanted to talk to him. That was one of the many things that Jack liked about the old man.

"Of course. Let's go into my room, it will be more quiet there", North said. They walked between yets and toys towards Santa's room. Jack tried to as fast as he could hide three new cookies in his hoodie's pocked.

"So. Tell me what is bothering you my boy", North asked as he took a seat behind his table and Jack sat down on the backrest of the other seat. He held his staff with two hands and it was placed between him and Santa.

North knew that it was psychological barrier between them. Jack wasn't able to open up to him just yet so he unconsciously protected him self. That was a normal reaction from an adult and even more from a child.

"Jamie... He hasn't stop believing in us. First I thought it was a good thing, but now I'm not so sure..." Jack looked at his staff. North was quiet for a moment.

"It's not?" He asked. He was happy when he saw Jack move his staff off between them even tought the spirit looked even more worried and even a bit scared.

"It's not! When I got there he had already drunk! He is suffering because he believes in us and no-one other adult does! He's lonely! If we could just make couple other adults believe in us as well, he.." Jack said but North cut him off angrily.

"No! We are here to protect the children. Adults can take care of them selves. And if adults believes in us as well, we have no idea what would happen. Man in Moon told us never, ever let any adult believe in us. To tell us that he had his reasons. He knows better than any of us", North said more softly. Jack sighed in frustration.

"I don't know what I should do with him. It hurts to see him like this. He was so innocent and naive kid back then. What happend?" the spirit asked. He was a teenager for the rest of the enternity so he would never understand adults. Unlike North.

"He just grow up. He saw that in real world there is no good and evil. There is always evil in everyone, even in us. Pitch has propably some good in him as well, but our actions tells us are we more good or evil. Jamie will let go eventually. And that day he will start really live his life. You should give him a bush for it, but don't rush on anything. This is a thing that only Jamie can fix", North said smiling a bit.

Like Jack had guessed, talking with North did ease his mind a bit. He took a deep breath and just let the weight go off from his young shoulders.

"Thanks Santa. I knew I could count on you", he said with a smile. North nodded with a smile. Jack was like a son to him. Of course he cared about all the children from the world but Jack was the most special. Jack was a naughty kid most of the time but you just could not to love him. He had his heart in a right place even after all what he had gone throught. Plus all other kids grow up sooner or later but Jack would be a kid even after a thousand years. He would always need North's -the adult's- help.

Jack pushed himself up from the chair's backrest and lanted softly on the stone floor. He took his leave.

"By the way Jack. I just realized that Tooth will not be pleased if I let you eat cookies any more. So will you pleace pass me those from your pocked?"

Jack turned around looking guilty but still smirked.

"So you saw it again.."

He gave the cookies to North before he left again.

North couldn't help but smile. Jack was a sugar rat. He should really look after the kid's eating habits before Tooth started to blame him about Jack's rotting teeth.

Santa reached for his table box and opened it from lock. He was about to take one chocolate fontand but found out that there was none of them left. Ten poxes were empty and he hadn't taken even one candy.

"What the..."

In his room, Jack hide chocolate fontands under his pillow.


	4. Crazy?

Couple days later Jamie came home early from work. He had enough. He was sick of people who thought he was crazy and bullied him. Jack Forst, Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and Sandman were real. He knew it but why on earth no one other believed that? Sophie had stopped believing in those when she became a teenager. Other kids lost their believe as well. But only Jamie still believed. He felt like it was his responcebility to still believe because you never knew if his believe fould some day save his friends' lifes.

But still it hurt him to try and fail making other adults believe in them too and they just told him he was crazy.

He opened another bottle of liquor. Alcohol helped to ease the pain for a while. Well, it usually came back even harder in the morning, but he was able to handle it. As long as he would forget even for a second.

Jamie shivered a bit. He remembered that he had tropped his house's room temperature when Jack visited him but had forgot to chance it back. Jack was able to be in warm places for a while but it made him feel uneacy quickly. Jack had told very scary stories about how he had been in warm place for too long and it had started to make him weak.

Even when he had been in bunny's barden those years ago, he had felt urge to get out into cold so he had offered to take Sophie back home. He always felt uneasy in warmth even thought he could handle the heat suprizingly well.

Jamie turned his heating system on again and in couple seconds the house was warm again. Technology had developed quickly in these years. With one bush a button and you could turn your whole house into a sauna or icecastle.

Then it hit into his drunken brain. He couldn't make people believe in Jack. But Jack could.

He just had to push the sipirit in right direction.


	5. Melting snow

Jack left North pole after a week and heated to Finland. He danced all night making soft snow fall down from the sky. Kids loved it. Christmas was almost here so they would get a white Cristmas after all. Jack could almost feel the tension in the air when kids waited Santa to come. Even thought it was only 18th day of Dectember.

Jack was making the rivers and lakes froze when it suddenly hit him. Something was wrong. He didn't know how he knew it but something was off. He looked up to the moon. Jamie.

The winter spirit jumped in the air and let the wind take him to Canada. He arrived there in just ten minutes later but still he felt like he was late already.

"Jamie!"

He hit as hard as he could in the window. Jack felt how the temperature was dropping much more than he had meant to. But he couldn't control it. Always when he let his feelings get over him, his powers reacted them.

It took too long before Jamie appeared behind the door and opened it.

"Jack! What on earth are you doing?" Jamie asked confused.

Jack didn't say anything. He just jumped inside the house, his staff ready. Something was off. He could feel it. The room get cold quickly.

"Stay back. Don't do anything, just stay here, okay?" Jack asked but didn't wait for responce. He ran trought the livingroom, into kitchen. Then on the second floor and into Jamie's bedroom. Then bathroom. But he didn't find what he was looking for.

"Jack, could you pleace finally explain what is going on?" Jamie asked a bit frustrated.

"Sorry... I was so sure that..." Jack turned to face his friend but went quiet.

That was the moment when he really realized that Jamie had chainced a lot in these years. The kid... no, the man stood there, barely balanzing. He was drunk. He leaned on the bathroom's door and it looked like he had troubles to see Jack completely.

Jack's heart stopped. This was not a kid he had met those years ago. This was an adult. And Santa had said that the Man of the Moon didn't want any adult to know about them. The weird feeling of something being frong was actually coming from Jamie. Something about Jamie was much darker than ever before.

For the first time Jack was scared of a human.

"I... I have to go", he muttered. He was about to walk out of bathroom but Jamie didn't move off from the door.

Jamie saw how something klicked in his friend's mind. He just knew that Frost would leave him now. Why? What he had done? Nothing. Yet.

"Why? You just came here so you could spend some time with me", Jamie said but there wasn't his usual happy laugh. He just soot there with even more freezing eyes than even Jack Frost himself had.

"There is something I have to do..." Jack said, which made Jamie to rise his eyebraw.

"You are lying. And I can't let you go. Not yet. I'm sorry", Jamie said and closed the door. Jack ran to it and tried to open it. Jamie had blocked it from the other side so it wouldn't open.

Jamie pushed a button from heater. Even thought he wasn't in the bathroom, he just felt how heating system kicked on and the room got quickly as hot as sauna.

To Jack, it wasn't a joke anymore. Not even close. Jamie knew that he couldn't be in warm place for too long. When Jamie closed the door he tried to shot it open with his ice. But the room warmed so quickly that the ice lost it's effect. It took only seconds before it had reached from 20 to 40. To Jack that felt like someone was sucking all his streight. His muckels became weak and he had to take supporn from his staff to even stand.

"Jamie. Please, open the door!" Jack yelled. But Jamie didn't open the door.

Jack was trapped.

Jack hit the door as hard as he could. The temperature started to rise on 60 degrees. Jack tried to make it drop as much as he could but failed. At 70 he started to feel physical pain.

"Jamie! I'm searious, open the door!" Jack screamed with horror in his voice. How his best friend would do this to him? His mouth opened to voiceless scream of pain when the temperature was 80. He tried to keep hold of his staff but eventually it slipped from his hand.

At 90 he fell on his kneels gasping air. It was like he was drowning in lava. Every breath hurt like knives in his lungs. He throw up blood. And again. He breathed quickly and shortly like he had an astma attack. Every single part of him was screaming of pain. He felt the horrible feeling how his insides were torn apart. He had been frozen walking corpse for 300 years and now he was suddenly melting. That was not pleasant feeling.

At 100 he collapsed. He might be immortal but this time he was quite sure that he would have died this time if Jamie hadn't finally open the door.


	6. Perfect enemy

When Jack woke up again, the temperature was till too hot for him. But it felt much more comfortable than before. He could feel his powers slowly coming back. Carefully he opened his eyes. He was shocked when he realized that he was still in Jamie's bathroom.

"Ja..mie..." Jack couldn't speak more. His throaght felt like it was crushed. Blood tried to come out from his mouth again. It took all his will power to swallow the blood. Even more he had to focuse to stay awake.

He felt he was floating somehow. By looking the sealing he knew that he was in Jamie's bathtub. Water was cold, which made him feel a bit more comfortable. His body still hurt like he had been stabbed in every inch of his body and now someone was putting some salt in his wounds. But it surely was more comfortable than when the heat had reached 90.

First he thought that Jamie had actually came back to his sences but he felt how his hands were bound behind his back and his staff was used to keep them there. His legs were bound together as well. That was not a good sigh.

"Jack. I'm truly sorry. But you know how it feels like when no-one believes you. So if you are my friend, you will help me to prove to people that I was right", Jamie said when his face appeared to Jack's vision.

Jack hadn't had friends before the Guardians and Jamie but he knew that that wasn't something what a friend would say to a friend. A friend would never force him to do anything. And expecially not by using their friendship as a treath.

He wanted to say to Jamie that of course he would help him but he didn't approve the way how Jamie thought he could help. But he couldn't. Only couple weak coughs came out from his throath with more blood.

"I'm really sorry. I know you don't like drowning but it's the only way to keep you here", Jamie said and with that he pushed Jack's whole body under water.

For a second time for that day Jack couldn't breath. He tried to fight Jamie off but his body was too weak. Memories of his own death popped into his mind. Drowning... Cold... Fear... Darkness... Only problem was that this time he couldn't die. He didn't need air to breath like a human. He couldn't drown. But still he needed air to keep his body going.

He was scared. He still felt himself drowning. Air escaped from his lunghs quickly leaving nothing but more pain in his destroyed lungsh. His vision went blurr. Jack started to fight as hard as he could, but the teenager was still powerless against the strong man. But he had to try. He had nothing to lose anymore. When he was finally able to almost get his head out of water, Jamie pushed his head back under water with so much comfident that it almost scared the man himself.

Blue eyes looked up to a human who held him under water.

From now one, Jamie would not be the spirit's friend anymore. He was an adult and a possible enemy. It was pain to admit, but the Man on Moon was right. Adults shall never believe in them again, because it was a dangerous to the Guardains.

Jack couldn't handle it anymore. He let his last air get out from his mouth and let himself fall uncounsiouns.

Jamie looked his friend for a second. Jack was too still. He looked like he had died. Well, even more than he already had. But Jamie knew it was impossible for immortal to die like this. He pulled his hands out from water. Jack's body stayed under water. Everything went quiet after Jack's loud fight against him.

But still something wasn't right. He didn't know what he had exepted to happen but surely that hadn't happend.

Jamie looked at his friend's still form. He had just drowned his best and only real friend. He was an adult, he should have known better. Even more wrong it felt because he didn't feel quilt. He didn't felt like he had done something wrong. Somehow he knew that he should feel something. Sadness, think that he was gone crazy, even sorry for Jack's sad fate but he didn't really felt it. He just felt urge to tell about this to everyone. Jack will forgive him when everyone, even adults believes in the winter spirit. That was what they bouth wanted, right?

The adult bend down to touch his friend's pale cheek. He had to show to his friend that he knew what he was doing. And he wasn't going to hurt the spirit. Well, not anymore.

In second when his hand touched the bath's water, Jack's eyes snapped open. Jamie didn't have time to even react to that when the water was already completely frozen, leaving the spirit inside the hard ice.

Jack's blue eyes stared with horror right to the sealing without really seeing it. He didn't move an inch but his staff was clowing bright white and blue. The wind blow even inside the house. Away from Jack like it was pushing everything away from the boy. All glass in the house broke in a second and everything fell on the floor and cracked into pieces. But nothing, not even half empty shampoo bottles that were above the bath, never touched the ice in bath as they fell on the floor. The wind didn't let anyone or anything get close to the frozen boy.

But it didn't stop in that. Ice started quickly grow out from the bath. And it wasn't Jack's usual beautiful and all-fun ice. It was deadly prickly. It was sharp like millions of knives. It cut shampoo bottles in half in a blink of an eye. There wasn't soft snow. There wasn't happy or even sarcastic laughter from winter spirit. There was only cold and death. All what winter was without the Guardian of fun, the spirit of winter. Without Jack Frost.

Jamie didn't think twice before he ran out from the bathroom and out from his own house. He got scars from the ice but managed to get out in time. He had no idea what had happend. Usually when Jack was angry, there was just snowstorm or sharp snowflakes. Or sudden cold wind. But never before had Jack made everything freeze.

Jamie's eyes stared in horror when the ice covered the whole building destroying everything that came into its way. In seconds his big house was even bigger and really scary ice castle. To sky started to be black clouds of winter storm. That made the whole town turn black like night had fallen in middle of the day. Sharp snowflakes fell down with a hard wind.

Every people nearby stared at that scary ice castle in terror. They didn't believe in Jack Frost but sure they saw the ice castle. It was just like from some short of horror movie, where is suddenly a nightmare icecastle in middle of peaceful little town.


	7. Spring

"Where is Jack?"

It had been five days sence the winter spirit had left to Finland and said that he would be back to help North with presents. The spirit had wanted, like any other kid, help Santa in Christmas but now he wasn't there when he was the most needed.

Yets were able to load his sleigh at its breaking boint with gifts. But there wasn't simply enough room for all the gifts so they needed Jack to make more space in sleigh from ice.

Now it was Sandy's job, which wasn't a good thing sence he had to go ahead Santa and but the children in sleep before Santa could arrive. They needed Jack. But even more they were worried about him. Jack had been alone for 300 years so they had used to that Jack didn't really care about schedules and Jack's "at three o'clock" actually meant "some where between nine in the morning and eight at evening or next day, or next week or then when you find me".

But Christmas was something that he really loved and wanted to be part of it. It wasn't like him to miss a chance to make elves fall off from the sleigh so they had to fly around the world again picking up elves that were making their weird gifts from something like tampoons or stolen keys.

"I told him that I will leave him behind if he isn't be here in time", North said looking worried. He had been so busy making the toys that he hadn't had time to look after the kid. If this was one of his pranks, it wasn't funny.

"He will appear if he knows that there is cookies to steal", bunny said. He was worried too now. For two days he had let the others worry about Jack, but now he was starting to be really worried too. Jack was like a little brother to him. Always fighting with him and arguing, and trying his best to annoy the Easter but bunny knew that the spirit was looking up to him in his own strage way. And no-one, no-one will mess with his little brother but him.

"Jack steals cookies always when he has a chance, but now it is perfect time to do it so parents will blame children. He would never let this kind of prank go when no-one will blame him ", Tooth said with worry.

No one of them saw Sandy who was waveing his hand to them to get their attention. He failed, so rolling his eyes he jumped to fly and slapped North in face with a sock. Everyone went quiet.

"What is it Sandy?" North asked calmly. Sandy's hit hadn't really hurt, it was more just funny. Like Jack's snowballs.

Sandy pointed out of window. Everyone turned to look out. They all gasped at the same time and ran to look closer.

It was spring. In middle of Christmas. In North pole. Snow was melting quickly and temperature was rising. Big pieces of ice cracked and fell off from the mountain.

But nothing was like in spring. There just wasn't the feeling of it. Like all happiness had been dissapeared from nature completely. Even sun looked more dimmer than ever. Birds didn't sing and flowers didn't grow. And compared to normal spring in North pole, this was just too hot and too quickly. North pole wasn't this hot ever, not even in summer.

The spirit of winter was gone. The winter was gone. The whole North pole was melting. In less than days there would not be any ice left and the whole pole would dissappear.

Sandy made a snowflake from his dream sand.

"You right, Sandy. We have to find Jack. He is in danger."


	8. Ice castle

Everything had ran out of Jamie's control in couple hours after Jack had let his powers take over and protected himself with ice. So after five days Jamie wasn't even able to come close to his own house.

The town had been evacuated. Every time when something or someone came too close to the castle, it grow even bigger. It was protecting with all its powers its heart: Jack. First only some polices had tried to enter into the castle but the ice didn't allowe that to happen. The air around the castle got so cold that not a living thing could get too close. Even more angry the ice got when the army tried to shoot it with tank. It didn't make even the smallest crack in the ice. The castle had attacked back by trestroying all the tanks like those were nothing but couple flyes.

Jamie was terrified. The ice wasn't nothing what he had exepted. Jack had always been a funny, easy going teenager who had only sometimes troubles to control his emotions. Jamie knew now how hard it was to be a teenager. And the spirit would be a teenager with all his hormons running like crazy in his veins for the enternity. That might be hard.

But never, ever Jack had shown his full anger. His rage was something that Jamie would have never even imagined. The air was extremely cold around the castle. Temperature had dropped in -168 degrees. It was too cold for people to enter. Well, no one could actually even go too near the ice because it really attaced to everyone who got too close.

Somehow it all made him feel happy after all. Now everyone would believe in Jack Frost. No one would laugh to him anymore. Now they would apologize from him about not believing in him.

He never got tired to tell a story about his friendship with Jack Frost in all interviews he was invited.

In no time Jamie became pretty famous. Some believed his stories, but most of the people still thought he was crazy. But all people believed that the ice castle was a bad thing.

At the time Jamie was standing behind the police line that was keeping people away from the castle. There were some investigators trying to undestand how this ice had life on its own. They were as close the ice as they could without freezing in a blink of an eye and tried to find a way to take examples from the ice.

They desided to go with flamethrowers. In an hour they had got one thousand of flamethrowers with someone to use them. Getting more courrage from this, many other people took a part to this with anything that could melt ice. People were sure that now they would get closer to the castle.

When the flames were shot at the ice, Jamie was sure for a second that it was really melting the ice. Slowly, but it was still helping a bit.

Snowflakes, that were falling with a hard wind from the dark sky, got seariously rediculously sharp. They were like small knives. And they really cut the flesh like a knife would cut butter. Reporters and other people had to back up even furter, but the ones who had flamethrowers were still getting a bit closer to the castle.

Jamie had his face full of small cuts. His clothers were torn from everywhere and he was bleeding. It wasn't deadly searious, but it still hurt. Like big and deep papercuts all over your body.

Snowflakes were only a warning from the ice. Now it would attack with full force.

From the castle grew new icesticks. Those headed straight to the people who were far too close the castle's walls.

Jamie's heart stopped for a long time. The ice almost killed all those people. Ice sticks had hitten every person in legs, shoulders or arms. People screamed in pain, trying to get away from the castle as quick as they could. Some of them were seariously hurt, but none of them were dead. Luckily.

But those were the first real victims of this tragedy. At this point everyone had been so lucky not getting really hurt. But this time people really injured badly. Every single civil were completely quiet. It was one thing that something was dangerous. But deadly was other.

Something snapped in all the people's minds at the same time. Without any order they just started to run away from the castle in panic. Only Jamie was left behind. He couldn't help it. He felt like his insides were torn out of him and thrown in the coldness of that castle. It was Jack's fault that there were thousands of almost dead people. Jack had ruined it all. He wanted just to show everyone that he wasn't crazy. But Jack had really almost killed all those people. There was no way he would tell anyone that he was friends with a murderer.

With that Jamie turned his back to ice castle.


	9. Searching for the child

Other guardians were looking for their youngest one with every way they could imagine. But they knew it would be hard to find Jack. The winter spirit was too fast and he didn't have any kind of rutin were and when he would be. So they actually had to search the whole world. They had to look from even deserts. Jack wasn't there in North making winter so it would not be impossible to him be in seariously hot place and not be able to get back home.

They had looked from Finland, Russian, Norway, Sweden... Almost all Europe but there was no sing of their friend.

"What would make Jack leave his presious job and just dissappear in thin air?" Tooth asked resting her head on her hands, stressed. She addmitted it, she had had a crush on the white hair but that was already over. Like Booka and Sandy, she had started to think Jack more like a little brother. A brother that she had to take care of.

Well, actually Jack was more than capable to take care of himself most of the time but still. She loved to think that she was there if Jack really needed help. That Jack knew that she would always stand right next to him even when he had done something really wrong and everyone other turned their backs on him. Like a big sister would.

North sighed.

"I have no idea. But he would have never do that willingly. One thing we know for sure is that Jack loves winter. He would never let spring come too early if he could stop it", North said with a heavy voice. Even thinking about that Jack was somewere there, alone and possibly in danger, pained him. He had almost forgotten even that that in less than 48 hours he was supposed to start his trip around the world. More important was to find Jack. Children would be sad if he didn't bring presents in the day he was supposed to but they would forgive him if he gave the gifts day after.

"What if Pitch attacked on him?" Pooka asked. That was the guestion they all were thinking. But to answer, Sandy shook his head and made Pitch and Jack from his dreamsand and made sand-Pitch be much smaller than sand-Jack.

"You are right, Pitch is right now so weak that he couldn't win Jack. But that leaves the bigger guestion; who is powerfull enough to force Jack to do anything that he didn't really want to do?"

That was a good guestion. North had tried to get Jack stop doing his pranks. The winter spirit had answered by putting all the elves in North's room. Believe it or not, there were enough elves to full the whole room. So when North opened his room's door, he had been close to drown in elves. Jack had proved that he deserved his place on the record of nauthy list.

Bunny had tried to make Jack let the spring come sooner one year. Big mistake. That had leaded to winter in middle the Easter and more colder summer than he had ever seen.

Tooth had asked 'nicely' Jack to show his painful teeth to her. Tooth had got her legs out of the ice a week later.

"Guys, you should really see this..." Bunny said suddenly. They all turned to look where the Easter was looking.

A family was watching news from TV. It looked really searious, like news usually did. But what caught their attention, was almost three mails high ice castle behind the reporter.

"This is Jasmin Alcor from Daily Dacora. I'm here in Lamber to withness when three helicopters tries to trop bombs in the castle. We hope that this, at last, will give us some hope that the castle will be destroyed some day", reporter said to camera. Then the camera started to film the helicopters. They tropped their bombs.

Bombs covered the ice in black smoke and for a second the camera filmed nothing but smoke. Then suddenly the wind blow harder and the ice hit on all helicopters with just one shot. The helicopters explored. Luckily there wasn't people in helicopters, they were flying with autopilot.

The reporter appeared to the TV again. She looked terrifyed but tried to be as professional as she could.

"We will return as soon as we can. This is Jasmin Alcor from Dai..."

The guardians didn't listen to anymore. They just soot there, staring the TV but didn't see it anymore. There was no need to say it was Jack. Or that the ice castle was right in Jamie's new house's place.

Slowly they realized partly what had happend. The only person who could force Jack to do something he didn't want to do was Jamie. Jack still saw him as a small kid. But Jamie was an adult and adults were able manipulate people to do things that they would never willingly do. Jack had said many times that Jamie wasn't okay, but they hadn't taken it really seariously. They had trusted in Jamie. They had seen him grow. He had been so kind, loving and caring kid. How on earth he had made Jack reveal his powers to all world to see?

"We have to go into Canada. NOW!"


	10. Reveal

It took only seconds before all the guardians were in Canada. They looked at the castle in disbelieve and horror. The castle looked so hollow and scary that it took a breath out even from Sandman.

The castle wasn't purely blue and white anymore. Some parts of it was black, some other were red. Red of blood.

They just soot there without saying a word. They had never felt anything so powerfull and angry as the wind around the castle. It was like a group of angry, parking dogs. They were just parking, but it was enough to make you stay away from them.

But Jack was smart kid. And loving person. He would never do something like this if it wasn't for a good reason.

"We need to find Jamie first. Bunny, you get him here right now", North ordered and without any arguments Bunny just hopped in his hole. In no time he came back, tragging Jamie with him.

"Let go of me!" the man yelled.

It had been a long time sence the other guardians had saw Jamie. They really realiced that the innocent kid had really grown up. Age wasn't just a number to people like it was to them. It really meant that people got old.

Bunny looked more angry than he had ever been. He looked at Jamie with so much hatered that the other guardians were looking at him with guestioning expression.

"Tell them what you just told to me, mate", bunny muttered. His voice made Jamie shiver. He looked at Santa but turned away really fast.

"Jack is no longer my friend. He was the one who didn't do as he was supposed to help a friend. I helped him to be believed, why would he turn out like this when I asked him to help people believe me?"

That made the other guardians see red as well as bunny. They kind of understood how Jamie was thinking, but what ever he had done to make Jack react like this, wasn't something that a friend would do to one another. Jack was hot temperatured but when he got really angry, he usually just slammed the door closed in other person's face like a normal teenager or drop the temperature low and just get out of the situation so he could calm down in peace.

Something like this didn't happen if Jack just got angry.

"Jamie. You have to tell us what happent", North tried to keep his voice calm. The man looked at him angrily.

"You don't know how it feels like to be not believed!"

That was something they had not prepeared to. They knew how it felt. They had a short experience when those years ago. It really didn't felt good.

But Jamie wasn't ready yet.

"So I desited to ask Jack to help me make people to believe me. I wanted them to know that you guys are real. But I knew Jack wouldn't understant. So when Jack suddenly came in my house, I put my plan on. When Jack was in my bathroom, I heated it at 100 degrees..."

Tooth flew to Jamie so angrily and fast that no-one even tried to stop her.

"You did WHAT!? You know he can't handle that much heat! He has troubles to stay near fireplace more than ten minutes! He would have died there!"

Sandy flew to Tooth and without saying a word he gently pushed the fairy away from the human. She was breathing heavily but didn't let the angry look dissappear from her beautiful face. They knew that Jack was immortal and couldn't die like that, but he would suffer from heat so much that it was actually better to him just die.

The others were angry too. They had experience about Jack in warm places. He was able to be comfortably in warm places by making them a bit more colder around himself. But if it got too hot and he was there for too long, he started to feel need to get into cold. And they never stopped him doing so. Jack had only told them about one time when he had been really close to death when there had been a forest fire and he had been in middle of it.

"And then what?" Bunny asked angrily. Jamie knew he should not shut up or lie. The guardians were so angry that they really would attack him. He knew that because the guardians were not responseble of him anymore. He was an adult so he wasn't them to protect anymore.

"I... I thought Jack's powers will freeze water when he wakes up. So I put him in my bathtub. When he self freezes the water, he would be trapped in one place. And I would be able to prove everyone that the Jack Frost is real. So when he woke up, I pushed him underwater..."

That was when all of the guardians were ready to attack him. Jamie had drowned Jack. Even when he knew that drowning was almost only thing that Jack scared with all his heart. Hell, Jack had died by drowning! He had any right to be afraight. Usually he trusted to his ice that it would freeze the water so he could walk over water and not fall in but this was diffrent.

"You drowned him.." Pooka said with a whisper. He had never hated anyone more than he hated Jamie right now. That was the worst thing Jamie could have possibly do to Jack. Even heat him on edge of death was better than drowning.

Jamie felt his heart sink. Why did they blame him?! He hadn't done anything wrong. Jack had!

"But I didn't know that Jack would get this angry! I thought that he would eventually be happy about that everyone believes in him. If he hadn't get angry, none of this would have happend and we would still be friends!" Jamie yelled.

North put his sword to his throath. Other guardians looked at Santa with a bit worry. Santa had never killed a human. It was a line that they never crossed. But right now they all were so angry that it would not be supricing if they had killed Jamie in that place.

"You are selfish, Jamie. Jack didn't want to tell about himself to everyone. He just wanted that you believed in him. Because that is more safe to him. To all of us. Adults might use his powers even in war. He wanted to help you. He really did. He asked me to tell him what he should do and I told him that he should never let any adult to believe in him. He knew how you felt. But he had no-one for 300 years. You had him. And you just didn't see that. You wanted make everyone believe in you. And you betrayed him in the worst way that is possible", North rised his sword but then he put it on his belt.

"You are not just worth it", he said with angry voice before heading towards the ice castle other guardians right behind him.

Bunny turned and came back to shocked man. He looked down at the man with disgust.

"By the way. Jack is not angry. He is scared. He is terrified and alone. Drowning. You knew he is deadly scared of drowning and you still pushed him underwater. This was his only way to protect himself. But you thought that he was angry to you. You selfish peace of shit didn't even see the time when you crossed the line and made your friend suffer more than you whish even your worst enemy to suffer. Your heart really is colder than that castle."

And with that the bunny jumped after his friends and left a crying man behind.


	11. Dark blue ice

Now the guardians had something really searious to handle. They had to find a way to reach to Jack and make him stop creating more ice. That was easy to say but hard to do. Jack was strong. Possibly strongest from them all. Only Sandy may be stronger than him. And he was scared. Everyone knew that scared person would be even more dangerous than angry. When person got too scared, he thought that he didn't have anything to lose anymore. That he would die if he didn't fight with all his powers.

That was how Jack was right now. He was a child with so much power but no way to handle his own fear.

But guardians understood him. They all had powers. They all had fears. They knew that they all would let their powers protect them if they got seariously too afraight.

"Any suggestions?" Tooth asked. It was cold. Only North and Sandy were able to handle the coldness pretty well. Fairy and bunny were shivering even when they were still far from the castle.

"Let me think let me think..." North said. Jack was a kid. Terrified kid. What would he do if Jack was just a normal child who was scared of a monster under his bed?

"What if we just fight your way to him?" Bunny asked and before anyone could stop him, he throw his boomerang to the ice. It didn't even touched the ice before the snowflakes ripped the weapon in small wood sticks.

"Shit. I didn't really tought it would have any effect but that is just ridiculous, mate", bunny muttered. Well, straight attack would not help them. Jack was simply too strong to them.

"Well we have to try again. We won't be able to help Jack by just standing here", Tooth said flying as fast as she could towards the castle. First protective attack missed her but the second hit hard. She got punched by ice right in her stomach. She backed away gasping air.

Sandy created an army of birds with his dreamsand. The group fly towards the castle from any direction. Even if one of them could get in, they would be a bit closer to get to Jack.

But the sand wasn't able to get in the castle. The snowflakes cut every single one of them in two. Sandy looked worried. If his powers didn't get in, no one other would get in eighter.

"We have to try together, in the same time. Then we might be able to destroy the ice!" Tooth yelled when she got her self back together.

Sandy nodded, making four huge dinosaurs, thousands delfins and horses from his dramsand. Tooth took her place above the castle while the Pooka was ready to attack from below. North rised his swords, but he was still thinking that they had forgotten something very important.

"Ready? NOW!"

Bunny hopped into his tunnels only to appear inside the castle. Tooth attacked from above, her strong wings ready to slice the ice when it attacks to her again. Sandy's dreansand animals attacked with North, whose swords were sharp enough to cut the ice.

Inside the castle, Pooka fought with the ice only with his pare hands. It wasn't as hard as he had feared it to be. The ice didn't have time to focus on all of them with full forse.

Sandy's dinosaurs got hits from ice, but they didn't dissappear. Dinosaurs got really close the fall of the castle as well as North and Tooth did too. They were winning. Castle fought back, but it didn't have powers to protect itself from inside and outside attacks.

At last they thought it didn't have that power.

The whole castle turned into dark blue colour. That was only thing they saw before new ice rised from the castle and it "killed" every single one of Sandy's dreamsand creatures. North and Tooth had to back away before the ice could slice them too. They stood almost two miles away from the castle, far more farter than they had been standing in begin. In second, bunny appeared to them from his tunnels, holding his bruised body.

"Wow... That kid has really too much power to his own good", Pooka said gasping air.

"We did a lucky escape", Tooth said breathing heavily. She had scars and bruises too.

Sandy shook his head and made a sand figures of Jack and them. They attacked to Jack, who was backing away but still fought back. North nodded, translateing his message.

"Jack doesn't want to kill us. He doesn't want kill anyone. He isn't useing his all powers even now", North said and they all looked at the castle, whitch was now dark blue, almost black. They had seariously pissed off the castle.

"If this is not all of Jack's powers, how strong he really is?" Tooth asked only whispering. That was the guestiong what they all thought. If Jack wasn't fighting with his all powers even now, they would never get in if they fought. But castle didn't let anyone even near its falls so how they were supposed to get in?

They all swallowed. They would never get Jack out from there. They had to get a new plan.


	12. Inside the castle

While he guardians were looking at the castle, they couldn't help but think what was going on in their youngest member's mind. Maybe he was lonely. Maybe he felt betrayed. Maybe he thought that he will never be able to trust anyone again. But one thing was sure.

Jack was _scared_.

Not like when he had been scared of Pitch. When he met Pitch for first time, he had been just a little bit scared but he was still able to think clearly and fight. Even talk back to the King of nightmares and in the end he had been able to even laugh to Pitch.

No, if that had been just fear, this is something completely new feeling that Jack had never had before. As ironic as it may be, he was frozen from fear. Not just physically but mentally too.

In other people's eyes, he just laid there, unmoving, frozen and staring at the seiling. But he actually did more than that. Far more than that.

First thing was that he really felt bretrayed. Jamie knew everything about him. He had openly told to the man all what he ever asked about the winter spirit. Only some things Jack still kept only to himself, but most importantly he had told all his weaknesses to Jamie. The man knew all about how to hurt the spirit. And he had used them against him.

He knew how Jamie felt, but he still couldn't forgive him about what the man had done to him. Jamie thought he had hurt Jack only physically, but even thought the kid was more dead right now than alive, the biggest damage had happend in his mind.

For first time in 316 years Jack actually hoped that no-one would believe in him. That way nothing like this would ever happen again. But in other hand, he liked to be believed in, and he would never let himself be forgotten again. But from this day on, only kids shall believe in him.

Sad thing was that he was losing a friend. His best friend. Guess you should never really bond with mortals if youself are immortal. They all grow up and die away and you are only one who is left behind. In some level he had thought that Jamie would be there always. That was the kid part of him that thought like this. But the immortal part knew that in the end Jamie would die. But he had hoped that they would be friends whole Jamie's life.

Well, that didn't happen.

Jack was scared to face the other guardians as well. They all had a soft spot to Jamie. Was there any promices that the guardians will be on his side? What if they thought that Jamie was right and Jack was wrong? North had said that only kids should believe in them, but Jack had kept still visiting Jamie. He had secretly hoped that Jamie will always believe in him. So this is partly his fault too.

Other guardians may be furious when they found out that he had told to Jamie all his weaknesses. Jack almost heard bunny's voice in his head saying that he had done this to himself when he told to adult all about his powers. He almost saw how Tooth looked at him dissapointed look on her beautiful face and Sandy looking at him angrily. He almost felt North's rage on his skin.

There was no-one he could trust now. No-one who would be on his side on this. He was wrong in this. He should have let people believe in him and Jamie so this would have never happend. Instead he had been scared of his own safety. Now his own safety seemed so unimportant. If he had just done things in other way, none of this would have happent.

So now we have a kid, who feels like he is left alone, who lost all the people who he cares about, who doupts his own instincs and who is scared of what may happen to him in the end.

But that was what was going on in his mind only. Not to mention his body.

Well, the heat had really damaged his body from inside. In his lunghs and windpipe were wounded like he had been breathing nails instead of air. His skin had burned badly, but now all his physicall wounds were healing slowly in ice. But he still felt them even though he didn't have any way to express his pain. That may be the worst part about them.

Even when Jack felt like his insides were ripped apart and then back together, he could scream from pain. He couldn't even close his eyes or pite something, anything to take his mind away from the pain for a second.

And think about it: Jack felt the whole castle around him and the people who were still standing in his snowrain. Jack felt every single one of the snowflakes. Every single peace of ice. So every time when a snowflake landed on a human, Jack knew exactly where that person was and what was he doing.

First he wasn't that worried about his own situation. Jamie had hurt him, yes, but in no time his wounds will heal and he would get out from here. But now he was worried. Did he really want to go outside and face the other guardians and most of all Jamie? If he left his guard down, they might hurt him again.

Then he started to feel more people around him. Jack started seariously panic when he felt many people coming towards him. Throught the ice he saw how the bathroom started to glow in bright white colour. Jack felt his staff get colder behind him. It felt so comforting. The staff had been with him all these years and it still served him better than anything else.

Jack felt his own snowflakes turn sharp and hit painfully in people. He wanted it to end, but at the same time he felt safe again when people backed away from him. Jack just needed them to stay far away for a while until his body was healed and he was mentally ready to face Jamie and other guardians.

If Jack had been able to do it, he would have screamed in pain when the tanks shoot at the ice. It felt like something had hit him on stomach. Physically he wasn't really hurt. He didn't got any bruises, but it still hurt. The ice just told him where and how hard people attacked on him. The castle was part of him. The castle was his body and the winter spirit himself was the heart. The body stopped all the physical attacks but heart still felt them all. But nothing will hurt the heart as long as there was a body left.

Still Jack knew that the tanks were far too close for his safety. He had no idea how he could make the tanks back away but his staff glowed again and Jack felt how the ice chruched the tanks. Jack swallowed. He didn't feel any people in tanks so he really was lucky in this one.

Then the flamethrowers came. That made the winter spirit panic. He felt his legs burn even when the fire never got even near them. There wasn't physical burns. Just the feeling of burning. Jack wanted the pain end as quick as possible. But he didn't want hurt the people. They were not to blame about this.

But the pain was too much to him to handle. Even to a normal person it was impossible to handle the feeling of burning and to the winter spirit it was even harder. It felt like torture. And Jack wasn't able to move. You know the feeling when someone traps you on the floor and starts to tickle you and there is nothing you can do to make it stop? Well, image the very same situation, only that you are suffering from pain and you are being trapped so well that you can't move even a finger.

Jack couldn't handle it any more. He had warned the people to stop, but they still kept going. His staff desided that Jack had had enough. Its master should never suffer like this. Never.

Jack felt the ice attack to people. His heart stopped. It had felt like a reflex to ease his pain. Snowflakes turned back to soft even thought they still fell down with hight speed.

Many seconds passed when Jack tried to realice what had happend. He felt people lying there. Blood turned his white snow red. He wanted to scream. He had made the biggest mistake of his life. He may have killed someone. Now the guardians will never forgive him.

Slowly he started to get better picture of what was happening outside. People were alive. Hurt, but alive. Jack would have sighed from relieve. Of course his staff would never kill anyone without his permission. It was like a friend that never did anything against his deepest wishes. A friend that was ready to protect its master even by hurting people. Loyal friend that maight hurt someone to protect him, but never killed anyone because the quilt would have teared Jack apart.

Jack felt his body starting to be completely healed but he was still in pain. Now he was too afraight to go outside. He felt even more people outside. They knew how to hurt him. Jamie knew how to hurt him. He still wasn't strong enough to fight the guardians without the castle. If he stepped out now, he was seariously going to die in a blink of an eye. As long as he stayed in the castle, he was safe.

Then he felt suddenly pain in his head. It hurt. It seariously freaking _hurt_. It was like two blunt iron stiff had been hitted on his head. Without hesitation his staff hit those helicopters down as reflex. There were no people inside. They were flying autopiloted.

His staff got a bit colder. It was angry. Jack has been gone throught enough for today. It was going to keep every single living thing so far away from the castle that nothing will touch the ice again and hurt Jack more. Jack had been warning people to stay away from him but they just didn't listen. From now on, the staff will keep everyone away. Even if it meant that some more people got hurt.


	13. The new plan

Suddenly North snapped his fingers and looked like he had realized something that they had missed.

"I got it! Jack is the guardian of fun. He is the spirit of winter. This..." North pointed at the castle. "... IS Jack. This is part of him. How on earth only ice would know where all the attacks came from? Somehow Jack is still controlling it. He is the heart of this and this is just his shield and sword." North said with eyes sparkling.

"Right, and how is that supposed to help us mate?" Bunny asked sarcastically. Their eyes widened when Santa throw away his swords and stepped closer the castle with open arms and smiled.

"If we attack, he protects him self. Jack is too scared to think clearly, he just attacks back if we start to fight. We don't attack to a scared child, we tell them that there is nothing to be afraight of", North said and without any weapons or sight of fear he was able to get closer the castle than anyone other.

But quickly it became too cold to him get any closer. He just smiled softly to the ice.

"Jack. It's me. I'm not here to harm you. Pleace, let me in so I can help you", he said softly.

To all their suprice, the temperature dropped enough so he was able to get even closer. Bunny, Tooth and Sandy looked at each other. Then bunny throw his other boomerang and explosive easter eggs on the ground next to Santa's swords. Tooth and Sandy lanted on the ground and walked next to Pooka. Together they walked after North.

They were able to get next to North, who was standing right before the huge fall of ice. They couldn't get closer.

"Jack. It's us. You know you can trust us. We are your friends. There is nothing to be afraight of", Tooth said to the fall.

They just stood there a long time. They were just about to give up when they heard a crack from the ice.

Then suddenly the fall fell down. They had to back away a bit but when the sight cleared from snow, they saw how the fall had hidden the front door of Jamie's house. They walked as calmly as they could to the door and pushed it open.

Jamie's house was unregoniceble. The ice covered every single inch of it. Even the smallest things like pens and plastic flowers were frozen.

The guardians knew that Jack felt them. Their every breaths, steps and even heartbeats. In the second when they made a mistake, Jack would attack.

"Don't touch anything", North said, but it wasn't necessary. Even bunny avoited touching in anything that had ice on it. Which was pretty hard when the floor was covered with ice.

"Jamie said he was in bath. Maybe he is still there", Tooth said. She knew she should not whisper. If Jack felt them, he may can even hear them. And if he thought that they were planning anything to hurt him, he would protect himself. It was safer to be all open about what they were doing.

Slowly they walked upstairs and on the door of bathroom. They tried to pull the door open but it was frozen.

"Jack. We are coming in. The door is frozen so we have to force it open, okay mate?" bunny said. He waited for a while before he kicked the door open. They half exepted that Jack would freeze them in that spot but nothing happend.

When they entered into the bathroom and looked into the bath, the time stopped for all of them.

Jack was in the ice. He had always looked cold but compared to this, Jack usually looked like he was in Hawai. But what hit on the guardians was the look on their youngest member's face. The last look that he had had before he freezed himself was pure terror. His blue eyes were wide open and his mouth was a bit open from shock.

There was something red in the ice around the boy's face. The guardians realized it was Jack's blood coming from his mouth. The kid's hands were tied behind his back around his staff. The staff clowed in white and blue colour. It had kept Jack safe. And it still did. But Jack controlled his own staff. He was able to make it stop when ever he wanted.

Only thing was to make him let his friends to safe him. Complicated, huh?

The guardians felt the most disgust about Jamie. What on earth had made the adult do this to the kid? How cold hearted you had to be to be able to bush those fear filled innocent blue eyes under water especially when you knew that drowning was almost only thing that the kid was scared of?

"Jack. It's, okay, we are here. We are not going to leave you", North said kneeling right next to the bath. Sandy came right next to him looking at the spirit and smiled softly.

"There is nothing to be afraight of. No one is going to harm you", Tooth said with a motherly smile as she bend down above white hair's head.

"We are going to kick anyone's ass if they are even trying to get to you. I promice that to you, mate. They have to go through us first because no-one messes up with you but me", Booka said with a smirk. They stood there, waiting for something to happen. Air was cold like in the freezer but they didn't care. The most important thing was to get Jack out of there.

After almost fiveteen minutes, the ice finally started to crack. Jack's body started to rise from the bath like it had rised from the lake 300 years ago. In the second when his face was out from the ice he gasped the air like he had been drowning. Well, he had been, actually. He tried to blink his eyes to see something. Anything. But everything was blurr.

With his strong hands North pulled him completely out of the ice and quickly trapped the boy in tight embrace. Jack was shivering. Not because of cold. Of course he didn't have cold. But because of fear. And cry.

"It's okay Jack. It's okay."

They had never seen the winter spirit so broken. For first time they saw, really saw, that behind all that courrage, wisdom, jokes and 300 years of living, he was still just a kid. Kid who still needed a parent to tell him that he was safe. Someone to hold him when he was terrified.

Someone whose shoulder he would hide his face and just let his tears to come out from his eyes only to freeze on his cheek.

North gently caressed the back of his head. The boy was shaking so uncontrollaby that for a moment they all thought he was having a panic attack. Without saying anything, they all just stayed there, around their youngest one. And that was all Jack needed right now. His friends, true friends, there, when he had his weakest moment.

After a long time Pooka came to the spirit and as gently as he could, he took the ropes off around the kid's hands and legs. The spirit immediately turned away from Santa and took his staff into his hands. Even more than a shoulder to cry on, he needed to know that his weapon was okay. Thankfully it was.

He was sitting on his kneels on the cold floor looking at his staff for far too long so the other guardians knew that he wasn't worried about his staff anymore. He was just pulling himself together. He sobbed a few time before taking many deep breaths and wipped his last tears off from his face.

They all went along with what he was doing. Pretending like he had never broke down to cry. Of course he felt embaressed even thought he actually knew that he had nothing to be ashamed of.

"Thank you. Thank you..." He said with quiet and weak voice but they all still heard him. Sandy flew to him and put his hand on his shoulder and smiled to him. _Any time my friend. Any time._


	14. Family

Jack tried to breath in. He needed air. But he couldn't move his body to breath. Every single part of him was deeply frozen. He was constantly suffocating. That wasn't even the worst part.

The way he felt the castle around him was weird. The ice was like numb body to him. Body that he never saw himself. Only sometimes he felt pain when something hit on the ice but everything else was numb. All he could do was wait for the next hit. More pain. It was much like be blinded and someone always hit you without any warning. It was scary to not know when or when you feel pain next.

Then he felt new people arrive. Four of them. Jack felt his cold heart start jumping again. Not again. He didn't want to feel the pain anymore. His staff glow even brighter.

He felt something small fly towards the castle. The staff froze the snowflakes again and they ripped that something in just seconds. Jack hoped that it had not been a bird, because now it would be death.

Then there was something bigger flying to him. The staff attacked to it but failed. That made Jack's heart jump even faster from fear. His ice never missed its target. He never missed his target. Almost panicing he send a new attack to that thing. This time he felt how the ice hit on it and it had to back away from the castle.

Jack tried to calm down. He was panicing too much. He was hyperventilating. He tried to think that he was going to be okay. The other guardians were not angry to him. They understood that he was terrified and they wanted to help him.

Then he felt many things flying towards him. This was nothing normal. Those weren't birds. At last not normal birds. Jack send one snowflake for every single one of them. Not a one of his snowflakes missed.

Jack would have cried from shok and relief. It was Sandy. The first must have been Bunnymund's boomerang. The second had been Tooth. Jack felt like he should go apologize from Tooth. He had propably hit her hard. When he was just about to get out from the ice, he felt something appear inside his castle, something attack from above and many huge things attacking from sides and even more smaller things all around the castle.

Jack froze everything around him even more. Now he was in real danger. The guardians attacked on him. And they were strong. He felt how North's swords and Tooth's wings sliced his ice, Pooka hit his ice so hard that it cracked from many places and Sandy's dreamsand figures broke huge pieces of ice off.

Jack had never felt pain like that. It was only mental pain, not physical, but still it hurt like someone was snapping his bones in half one after another. His skull, rips, legs, arms. And Bunny was the feeling of something being teared apart inside him. Like the bunny was cutting his stomach in pieces.

_Please... Please... no more... stop it...it hurts... it hurts..._ Jack had never begged anything before. Not even from boogeyman. But now the pain was too much for him. But the guardians didn't hear him. Or they didn't care. They just wanted to hurt him. Kill him. Make him pay for what he had done to Jamie.

Jack saw it for first time in his life more clear than ever. He was alone. No-one cared about him. He was just a mistake. Not even the Man on Moon cared to tell him what was going on.

In his mind, Jack screamed for help, but no-one reached for him. If he ever got out from the castle, he would die. Or wrose, he would be alone again. More alone than he ever was. Children would believe in him, but they feared him. Guardians would be there to hunt him down for that. He would be the enemy of children.

Jack attacked back to the Guardians. He didn't care any more if they got hurt in process. Okay, that part was a lie. He just hoped that he didn't care. It would have been easier to push them all away from him.

All his hope was gone. Time of wonders was over. He would never make new happy memories. He would never dream sweet dreams again.

All what is left was cold and ice.

He let his ice turn dark blue. It was thicker than any other ice. Nothing would never get throught it. He was safe again. As long as he stayed where he was.

Jack was ready to a new attack. It would be nice to see how the other guardians tried to get throught this one. Not even North's swords could cut this ice.

"_Jack. It's me. I'm not here to harm you. Pleace, let me in so I can help you_"

North?

Jack was in shock. North wasn't attacking anymore. Jack didn't feel the man have his swords. They laid there far behind him and were almost covered into snow. What is going on? Without realizing it, he droppet the temperature around the castle. North is going to kill him. Somehow. He had to. Santa didn't care about him anymore. He was naughty kid. The naughtiest kid in the world.

The other guardians walked next to North. What is going on? Pooka had left his boomerangs behind. He NEVER left his boomerangs. Like Jack never left his staff. Those were their weapons.

"_Jack. It's us. You know you can trust us. We are your friends. There is nothing to be afraight of"_

Tooth.

Tooth never lied to him.

He didn't think clear at all anymore. Attacking back had been easier than let the people came closer to him. Pushing people away was easier than letting anyone in. If he let the guardians come, he might die. But in other hand... He might be saved. Maybe they were on his side in this. Maybe he had a family that really cared about him.

After trying to think so much that his head started to ache, he let the fall of the castle fell down. It felt relieving and scary at the same time. He let the guardians in, but he still wasn't sure was it safe.

He felt the guardians walking in the house. It felt weird. It felt even a bit uncomfortable. It was like when doctor asked you to strip so he could look your body. Jack felt exposed and he didn't like it.

He heard North and Tooth talking about not to touch anything and where they supposed he was in. They were all open about what they were doing and why. That made Jack's heartbeat slow down a bit. Maybe they really were here to safe him.

His heartbeat started to rise when he felt the guardians trying the bathroom's door. Really, how they got here that quickly!?

"_Jack. We are coming in. The door is frozen so we have to force it open, okay mate?_"

Bunny.

Jack would have laughed about how worried bunny sounded. The kangaroo was really worried about him. Instead he just laid there frozen by his body and mentally. Should he finally push them away? They were near. Too near. If they desided to attack to him, he might not be able to defeat himself anymore. Not when they were so close him, the heart of the castle.

Then he felt how bunny kicked the door open. Really, that rabbit had too much power in his legs. The door had been frozen completely and now it flew open like nothing. Or had Jack let his guard down before realizing it himself?

Maybe.

"_Jack. It's, okay, we are here. We are not going to leave you_"

North.__

"_There is nothing to be afraight of. No one is going to harm you_"

Tooth.__

"_We are going to kick anyone's ass if they are even trying to get to you. I promice that to you, mate. They have to go through us first because no-one messes up with you but me_"

B... Bunny...

Jack was crying already. Even thought he couldn't move or let the tears fall from his eyes. His heart jumped like it wanted to jump out from his chest. He couldn't keep this up anymore. He didn't want to be left alone again. He didn't want to fight anymore.

It took a long time before he was ready to face the world. He told the ice let go of him. But his staff refused to let him go.

_It's okay. They are friends. They are my family._

Then he started to rise from the ice only to be trapped into warm and loving embrace from his family. It was okay to let the tears roll from his eyes and froze to his cheek. His family would never hurt him. His family would never leave him alone. Not even if he had made a mistake.


	15. We were friends

Suddenly there was a loud explore and the whole ice castle started to crack. Big pieces of ice and house destroyed in one second.

"People are attacking again! We have to get out from here!" Jack yelled. His voice almost dissappeared in all those noises but they still get it. The castle was now just normal ice and it didn't protect Jack anymore. Which means that all people's attacks would sooner or later destroy the castle. And that happend fast.

The roof of bathroom came down. Jack rised his staff with pure reflex and there were new ice that kept the roow up so it didn't fell on their head. However, the ice cracked loudly as it reached its limits.

"Follow me!" Pooka shouted and kicked the icefloor to make one of his tunnels to appear. Without any hesitations all the guardians jumped in just in time before the house's roof came down.

Bunny hadn't forgot his and Santa's weapons that were left behind. In blink of an eye he made another tunnel to the weapons and they dissappeared from the view before anyone noticed them.

In five minutes they all were back into North pole, safe and sound. Jack was still a bit skittich but he was holding up very well and he would make a full recover. Santa offered others a cup of hot chocolate and ice cream to Jack. Others were shivering a bit of cold from the castle and yets wrapped them in warm blankeds. To Jack they carried a fridge and kept it open to cool the spirit. That helped to calm all their nerves when they watched news from TV.

"The ice castle is finally starting to fall down. We have no idea what happend before but now it seems to be just normal ice. Investicators are sure there will be logical explanation for the ice's reactions before. We will be back when we know what caused all of this."

With that North shut the TV off and leaned back in his chair drinking his hot chocolate.

"They will never find anything exept normal ice. After a week there will be nothing but broken houses and cars", Jack said with calm voice. He was tired and still a bit shaky but he was starting to get to his normal behaviour.

Of course he knew that he had hurt many people back there but he also knew that he didn't had any options. Winter always killed some people, some animals, and that was just how it was. People were lucky about that he hadn't really killed anyone this time. He had a good heart, they all knew that, and he would give anything to chance the past but he had only attacked to protect himself. If he hadn't attacked back, the people would have get to him and use him as a weapon.

"Jack, I know the wound is still open but we want to know what really happend back then?" Tooth asked softly, flying to the spirit and laid down her hand on his. Her purble eyes met his icy cold ones with worried look. For a second he looked like he wasn't going to speak, but then he looked at the ice cream in his hand. Mind you, he didn't have any hurry to eat the ice cream because it wouldn't melt nearby him. His staff was in the other hand, leaning lightly on his shoulder.

"It is best to clean the wound before it starts to heal", North courraged him to speak. They all looked at the spirit. They were his friends, his family. Of course he could talk to them openly.

"I was in Finland when I suddenly felt that something was wrong with Jamie. So I went to check up on him. I felt that there was something dark in his house. First I thought it was Pitch. But when I really took a look at Jamie, I knew it was he who had dark spot in his heart. I had to get out of there. I just knew that I would not be able to handle it alone. Jamie knew all my weaknesses and I really didn't want to fight against him. But he didn't let me go. He just shut the bathroom's door and heated the bathroom so hot that it seariously hurt. I... I couldn't get out of there..." Jack had to take deep breaths to not broke to cry again. Speaking about the happenings made him feel miserably but also he knew that when he got it all out, he would be able to recover. It would be all right in the end.

"I passed out eventually. When I woke up, Jamie had put me in the bath and bond my hands and legs. When he pushed me under water and drowned me, I had never felt so helpless. I couldn't breath or move. Then I just panicked. My staff froze everything around us, the whole house, and made sure that I was safe. When people attacked us, I just felt pain every time something hit on the ice. It was like part of me. But still nothing could really hurt me. It felt safe. I still didn't want to attack to anyone. However, I was terrified. When I felt how my ice melted by those firethrowers, I tried to warn them to back off. They didn't, so my staff desided that enough was enough. And it attacked to them", Jack said with no more than whisper. His watery eyes looked at each one of them.

"I didn't meant to do it. But that is how my staff works. It protects me in desperate situations. It needs me as much I need it. However, when I felt you guys there without any weapons or desire to attack, it didn't fight any more. It knew that you weren't there to kill me. So it let you in. I let you in. And when I knew it was safe, I let the ice let go of me. And the rest you already know", Jack said looking at one of the elves who had came to him and licked his ice cream. It looked funny. The elf though he didn't see him even thought he was looking straight to it.

The guardian of fun pulled his ice cream away from the elf and without any warning splatted it straight into the elf's face. Elf's bell rang loudly when it ran off blinded by ice cream and ran straight into a fall. It stood back up and ran again out from the door and fell from the strairs and dissappeared from their view with a lot rangs of its bell. That made all of them crack laughing.

Laugh helped a lot to ease the spirit's mind. He was feeling a lot better already. Getting it all out right after everything had happend really cleaned his open wound. Now it just had to heal. Scars would be there always but they just made him stronger.

"Where you think you are going?" North asked standing up from his chair. Jack closed the fridge and walked to the window.

"There is something I need to do before we take off for Christmas tour. Trust me, I will be back before you leave!" The guardian of fun looked like he used to: happy and carefree. Before North could answer, the wind had taken the boy away.

"That kid... I was going to say that he isn't strong enough to go out alone..." North said. Then the realization hit in him. Hard.

"Christmas! I have only hours left before I have to leave!" With that he stormed out. Sandy paniced too, jumping out from the window and flew with his little airplane to put children in sleep before Santa could arrive. Tooth flew after him to contiune to collect the teeth. Bunny desided to help Santa sence the Easter was still so far away that he didn't have to rush to anything yet.

North had to make everything ready. He just had to believe that this time Jack would be back in time and not get into any troubles.

-

It took a bit more time than he had expected before Jack found Jamie. He really wasn't suprised when he wound the man from madhouse. People of course thought he was crazy. Believing in fairy tales and telling them that Jack Frost was real. Plus the man had been violent to everyone who said that the Easter Bunny, Sandman and Tooth Fairy weren't real. He has to be crazy.

Jack walked after a nurse, who of course didn't saw him, to Jamie's room. What he saw was the most depressing sight he had ever imagined to find his ex-friend.

Jamie was tied into straitjacked. He had cuts all over his face from when Jack had warned people to stay away from him and made the snowflakes sharp. Jamie's eyes stared at the white floor without really seeing it.

"Jamie.." Jack's voice was a bit broken. As much he didn't trust in that man anymore, he couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

Jamie looked at him. It took a while before he reconised the spirit.

"Jack! You came back! Please tell them that you are real. Then I can get out from here!" Jamie cried. The guardian of fun felt his heart broke.

"I'm sorry Jamie, but I can't. That is too dangerous to everyone. If all people believed in us, we would be hunted for the rest of enternity. We would not be able to do our job and protect the children", Jack tried to reason his actions to the man. Jamie looked at him with broken look.

"I thought we were friends", he whispered. Again, he used their friendship to threat Jack. But this time he would not let it disturbe him.

"We were friends. Until you stapped my back and tried to kill me for your own selfish actions. I know how it is to not be believed in. But Jamie..." Jack kneeled down next to the man. "you don't know what it is when no-one believes in you. You are the one who doesn't know what it is to be alone. I always believed in you. I was always there for you but you pushed me away. If you wish, I will be there for you always. But if you are not going to let me help you, there is nothing I can do for you."

Jack hoped Jamie would take his offer. He still wanted to believe that there was still that little kid who had been so happy when he lost his tooth by a hit from the sofa. The kid who had been sitting in his dark room and talked to his toy, begging that it would do miracles and prove that the Easter bunny was real.

But Jamie didn't want his help. The man looked at him suddenly angry.

"Why on earth I would want to be friends with a murderer?"

Jack's eyes widened. Jamie didn't undestand that it had been his staff that had been protecting him. He wasn't proud of his actions, but by not letting the people get to him back there, he had protected the children and the whole world. Hurting people always hurt him, but sometimes it was for the best to everyone. Besides, Jack had known that he didn't give anyone deadly wounds. He just wanted them to stay away, not kill them. But Jamie didn't saw it that way. He thought that only luck had kept those poor people alive.

Jack stood up and backed away from Jamie.

"So be it. I really wish you well, Jamie. You are still the kid who became my best friend. I thank you from that. From everything you have done for me. But now it's time to you to grow up and stop believing in us", Jack said with heavy voice.

"I will bring you down, murderer. Jack Frost will be known as cold hearted murderer and killer for innocent people", the door opened and a nurse stepped in again and Jack slipped out from the door.

"You will pay for this, Jack Frost!"


	16. I'm in

"Where is Jack?"

Again, he was late. North was almost ready for his tour but he still needed Jack's help to get all presents with him. His heart was jumping like crazy. Jack had promised to be on time and once again he broke his promise!

"I'm right here! Are we going or not?" The winter spirit smiled at Santa from the back of the sleigh. North cracked to lovable laugh.

"It's time for Christmas!"

He jumped in his sleigh. Jack turned and touched the ground with his staff. In no time the ice made another, smaller sleigh that held the overleft gifts and was tight strongly in the real sleigh.

Pleased with his work, he turned to Santa.

"We are ready! Lets go!"

"Not just yet!" North gave him an elf hat. Laughing hard, white haired boy took it and put it on his head. North had to admit it, Jack looked adorable with his fluffy white and red hat.

"Bunny, get in here!" Pooka stood there, too scared to get near the sleigh.

"No, I would rather spend my Christmas here..."

"Noup! No-one spends their Christmas alone!" Jack reached out his staff and pulled bunny in the sleigh with it. Poor Pooka had no time to get out before they already forced him to wear an elf hat too and the sleigh took off to the sky.

Jack laughed harder than a long time sitting on the huge sag of gifts while they flew with full speed around the world. It was so much fun to sneak in the kid's houses and put gifts under their Christmas trees. More funnier Jack had when he created snow so the early spring would be gone. Kids had a white Christmas this year after all.

But the most fun he had with bunny. Couple times he pretented like he had tropped one of the gifts so they had to jump after it. A few times Pooka had been already planning to jump after the gift. When the gift dropping prank didn't make the guardian of hope jump off from his pants... well, hairs, he started to drop elves. Third time when he turned back to get an elf, North told him seariously stop dropping them or they would be on the tour for the rest of the year.

For a while Jack just froze the elves to sleigh to entertein himself. North knew that he wasn't that kind of kid who would do the same thing for too long so he speeded up before Jack would get an idea for his next pank.

Speaking of the devil, Jack got an idea. Every house they entered after that, he freezed the kid's fater's shaveing cream bottless. Then he watched how the bottless explored and all that cream covered all the bathrooms. Even Booka and North laughed for that.

"This is the best Christmas ever!" The boy yelled when they flew above Italy. They met Sandman in Roma, while he was putting the last kids to sleep. The guardian of dreams waved his hand to the hyper active guardian who waved back with bouth hands and with his staff.

In back of his mind, Jack couldn't help but think Jamie's last words to him. What he had done wrong so the lovable kid had turned up to be so bitter adult? Only thing he could think of was that the adults really shouldn't believe in guardians. It wasn't good for anyone. He could only hope that Jamie would find peace of mind.

It pained him, but he had to let the kid grow up. That was best to everyone. So he desided to have fun and forget all the pain that the man had caused to him.

At the same time, the man in madhouse looked up to the sky. The snow was big and soft. Like it always was when Jack was happy. If Jamie had been Jack Frost, the whole world would be suffering from winter storms.

The man felt sleepy. He had been so out of control after Jack left that the nurses had to fill his body with sleeping pills. He couldn't even move his hand. He just stared out from the window, to the Moon.

Then everything went dark. He let him self sleep. He would think his revenge to that one guardian later.

"Well well wel... Isn't it Jamie?"

Jamie's eyes snapped open. He didn't feel tired anymore. He turned around as quickly as his drugged body allowed.

It was Pitch. Leaning casually on the wall and smirked at the man. Jamie struggeld, trying to free himself from straitjacket. But it was useless.

"What are you doing here?" Jamie felt the old fear from his childhood rise its ugly head again. Pitch laughed walking to him slowly, enjoying every single terrified look from Jamie.

"Dear Jamie. It's you who called me here. I'm here to help you", black man said with soft voice. Jamie stopped his strugglings and looked at the King of nightmares with comfused look.

"Help me?" Jamie gasped breathlessly. Pitch was here to help him? With what?

Pitch laughed.

"Yes. Help you. With your little... Revenge you call it? I like the sound of that. The Guardian of Revenge. Don't you think that sounds good?" Pitch asked softly as he touched Jamie's bed with his long, gray fingers. Jamie felt the shivers run throught his whole body.

"Guardian? I don't want to be a Guardian", Jamie muttered without looking at the King of nightmares. His words made Pitch smile even more.

"Oooh? But you want your revenge", Pitch moved to Jamie so quickly that the man jumped in his bed. The spirit touched his cheek, gray face so close to his that Jamie could feel Pitch's breath against his skin.

"Don't you want Jack to suffer from what he did to you? Don't you want some justice? I can help you. All I need to know is everything you know about the Guardians", Pitch said softly. Jamie saw how in his golden eyes sparkled something even darker than the spirit's hair.

It was something similar what he felt inside his heart right now. Pitch was only person in the world that could truely understand him. So the King of nightmares didn't have to ask him twice.

"I'm in."

**That's it mates. This is the end.**

Nyah, just kidding, :'D I have an inspiration to next story already, and I'm working on it right now. But this new story isn't complete yet, so I'm all open to all suggestions to what YOU want to happen. No need to tell full stories, just some parts and details are more than welcome too!

And most importantly: Thank you all from reading this... let's just call this Season 1! ;D And thank you all about comments! 3


	17. Think fast

**Well that was a long break for me... However, here it is: the "season" 2! I'm still all open to all suggestions for the story! **

Three years later, things were like always...

"Bunny, think fast!"

"... Jack, I swear to God... you are going to die this time, mate!"

Like I said, things were like always.

Bunny hopped after laughing winter spirit with some snow in the back of his head. Seariously, the kid was really annoying brat. And even more Bunny was annoyed about that you simply couldn't hate him! No matter what Jack did, you always had to forgive him when those bright blue eyes looked at you with kicked-little-puppy -look. Actually that look was so adorable that Bunny had a bad hapit to tease the kid so he had to do that look to him.

Or like this time, just torture him so much that the winter spirit didn't have any other options.

"Bunny! Stop it! I warned you, remember!? Not my fault you are slow!" Jack screamed while he laughed so hard that tears came out from his eyes and froze on his cheek.

That didn't stop the Easter bunny from tickling his bony sides. The six-foot-one rabbit kept the thin body on the ground easily and stopped the kid from kicking and hitting him. Oh, and even from biteing him. He had learnt from hard way that Jack's teeth weren't just bretty.

"I'm slow?! I caught you by running and you flew, mate!" Bunny laughed as he kept tickling the kid where ever his paws reached. Poor Jack had hard time to even breath from laugh.

"You had a home advantage! Next time we will rice on water or in North pole!" Jack tried to catch his breath when bunny finally stopped from tickling him. He turned around and laid on his back on green grass, looking at the bunny, who still sat on top of him.

"Not fair, you can walk on water, I can't. And you would just fly above the snow while I have to ran throught three-foot snowdrifts. That is just mean, Snowflake", Bunny grinned before he stood up offering his paw to help Jack stand up. The winter spirit took the paw thankfully and stood up.

It was spring. Just after the Easter. So Jack and Bunny had almost too much free-time now. But they weren't only ones. North was enjoying his rare free-time as well. Well, the man spend his free-time desining new toys. But that didn't mean that the two trouble makers wouldn't bother him. Yeah, Jack sometimes got Bunny as ally in crime. Usually Bunny just happend to be in wrong place at the wrong time. But that just make it more funnier.

"I should go back to North pole", Jack said smiling. They had been in the Warren a bit too long for his comfort. Time just flew when you had fun. They had been painting some eggs just for fun and then somehow ended up to play hide and seek. Maybe it was childish, but hey, Jack was mentally at six year's level and Bunny loved to play with kids. So it was okay, right?

Pooka knew that it was time to Jack go back to North. Not just because he had hot but also because sertain old man would be angry if he didn't bring the kid home before it was too dark.

North was over-protective? Try lay your hands on Jack and you would feel how seariously angry Bunny can break your bones one after another. No wonder Jack was 336 years old virgin.

But really, North was just trying to show that he really loved Jack as an own son. And love means some bonders. Jack had fought back. A lot. Like a normal teenager and as a free spirit. But even North had to addmit that he had crossed the line when he had demanded that Jack should always have at last one yeti with him, even when he was in North pole.

So he had took a back a bit and they had agreed to that when Jack was isolated to North pole, in spring and autumn, he should go home before dark and at last show that he was okay before taking off again. If he didn't, North would start looking for him.

North knew that more limits would just make Jack distressed and even angry. He needed his freedom as spirit but some bandries as a kid. So this way they had found some balance. Jack was all free go and come as he wished as long as he came to North pole to tell North that he was okay. At winter and summer he was free to spend a week away before he had to come to tell North that he was still alive. Some times it annoyed the kid to come all the way from South pole back to North pole just to show his face but it was worth it as long as North kept giving him some ice cream.

"Yeah, we should. I walk you home, mate", pooka said earning fake angry yells of how the winter spirit could take care of himself. Bunny shout back that Jack would get lost in tunnels. Besides even if the kid found the right tunnel, he wouldn't get it open without Bunny.

They kept arguing with huge smiles on their faces the whole walk to tunnels.

Jack was slowly starting to "really" piss off. He was losing this argue. And losing was something he hated. So in no time, they ran in tunnels, the rabbit first and the winter spirit right behind him trying to freeze the pooka.

"You can't catch me, mate! Not this time!" Pooka shout laughing. He stopped only on the enter of North pole's tunnel, kicked it open and turned around to face the spirit.

"You are too slo...OOWWW!" Jack had been far closer him than he had expected. The spirit grinned at him trying to freeze him again. Only way to run was out from the warren so Bunny jumped out.

"Oh, wait, this was a wrong... JACK, DON'T COM..!"

Too late.


	18. Coming out from the closet

North dropped his new ice toy on the floor in suprice. Sandy and Tooth looked at his closet without saying a word. North cursed in Russian before walking to his wardrode and opened its door, Sandy and Tooth standing right next to him.

In the second the light got in the closet, two very diffrent, yet similary confused eyes looked at them. Green ones and beautifully frosty blue ones.

Jack was on the floor of the closet, on his back, legs seperated from each other and leaning on the oppisite wall of the closet as high as they could be. His head leaned against one side of the closet very uncomfortally looking.

Bunny was above him, trying his best not to fall on the boy. Bunny's other leg was on the floor, right next to Jack's side and the other leg was against the opposite wall of the closet, right above Jack's head. The rest of his body was just above Jack, his back on the boy and he tried to keep his body up by his hands that were in between Jack's legs.

They just stared one at another for a while. North was the first one brust out to laugh.

"Bunny, I thought you blocked that tunnel after renovation!" North laughed as Bunny tried to roll off from Jack without hurting the boy. That was easy to say but try do it while you tried not to laugh your ass off. It was really hard to keep poker face when the Guardian of Fun was around.

There had been a small renovation in North's home. Nothing big, just some things had chainsed places and couple rooms had made to be storages for some toys. In North's own room some stuff had chansed places. It usually wasn't a big deal for bunny make a new tunnel to North's workship but this time he had forgotten this renovation.

Sandy laughed voicelessly on the floor and Tooth had really hard time to stay on her wings while she laughed.

"I was going to, mate! But then Jack came by and I just forgot it!" Bunny laughed as he sat on the floor, waiting for Jack to get himself out from the closet too.

But Jack just laughed to him from the closet and tried to pull the doors shut again.

"No way I'm going to _come out from the closet _with **YOU**! Or more importantly, not at **ALL**!" Jack laughed, earning far more laught from the others and embarassed look from the Bunny.

"Oh shut up, mate! You can't be in closet for rest of the enternity!" Bunny said and started to pull the kid out from wardrode. Jack tried to fight him off, but he was laughing too much to have any strenght in his fight. Bunny easily pulled him out and held him on his lap so he couldn't go back into the closet even when he tried his best.

"Bunny, what on earth did you gave him? Even in Jack's standards he is way too hyperactive", North asked, still laughing.

Bunny looked up to him innocently.

"He might have eaten two chocolate eggs... Or four...teen. He is just in sugar high", The easter gasped when the kid tried to bite him. He had let his guard down almost too long with the kid.

North didn't point out that even the Easter bunny himself was a bit... no, a lot in sugar high. Even when he had really bounded with Jack like a new best friend after what Jamie did to the winter spirit, this wasn't even close to what the pooka usually was. It was like he had no idea how childish he was. Or he knew but just didn't care.

They all laughed so much it really hurt. In good way.

They all remembered the time before Jack. They had been more distant to each other. North had work to do in winter, Bunny in spring and Sandy and Tooth were working all the time. They had rarely really time to spend around each other and usually that had been just for their job as Guardians. But Jack had connected them all together. Like he had melted the professional tense around the others and frosted it again with family bonds. Jack as the child of the family, Bunny as mean big brother, Sandy as quiet but smart big brother, North as father and Tooth as mother.

Most of all, Jack had brought _laughter_. At last no-one remembered that the Easter bunny had laughed on the floor tears running out from his eyes as he tried to keep the skinny spirit from going back to the closet. No-one of them remembered that they had ever had so much fun.

In return, Jack never remembered that he had really belonged to anywhere. Lake was short of his place, because it had been the place when he had been born. But it still didn't feel like home. There was no-one who greeted "welcome back" or anyone who told him to take care of himself when he took off.

Now he was more than welcome every time he ever wanted to visit North, Tooth or Bunny. He actually didn't know if Sandy even had permanent home. Every time he tried to ask about that from Sandy, the man just smiled to him without making any sandfigures. More than once Jack had tried to follow the guardian of dreams but always somehow he ended up sleeping on a tree or at his lake. Even thought he didn't remember feeling sleepy before that.

Bunny looked at the other guardians while holding the kid on his lap like he was nothing more than a little butterfly that tried to fly away from him. And Jack was struggling away from him as much as he could. Stupid Bunny, wasn't the spirit's fault that his body wasn't that muscular.

"By the way, what are you all doing here mates? I thought you two were still busy?" Bunny asked looking at Sandy and Tooth. He didn't even realize that Jack stopped from fighting and just sat in his lap looking up to two guardians as well.

"We are always busy, but I told to Baby Tooth to take the control for a chance. So it's okay to me come here to meet you guys once in a while", Tooth smiled. Sandy made a figure of himself and couple kids. His sand figure dissappeared and kids went to sleep on their own.

"Yeah, I think kids will forgive you if you take free night once in a while", North said with a smile. Sandy nodded with a big smile on his face.

That made Jack jump up from the floor so quickly that everyone's hearts almost jumped out from their throath. Especially Bunny's who had almost forgotten that the spirit was still on his lap. That kid was ridiculously light.

"I know! If we all have a free night, we should do something fun together!" No-one had heart to tell to Jack that it was exactly the reason why they all were here.

The youngest spirit was so exited that he was about to explore. That made North laugh heartly as he walked to the kid and laid his huge hand on the bony shoulder.

"You are right, Jack. We really should do something fun now. Any suggestions?" North said smiling. Sandy waved his hand and before anyone could ask him, many sand figures started to appear at the same time. Jack reconized only pictures of the other guardians and him self but everything else was just mess.

"Sandy... Sandy! We have no idea what you just said mate, so pleace, repeat that. Slower!" Bunny said standing up with Jack's help. Sandy rolled his eyes before slowing down so they could undestand what he was saying.

"Aaa, you want us to go out and play with kids?" Tooth asked first. Sandy nodded with huge grin on his face. That made Jack almost jump out from his skin.

"That is a great idea! You guys don't have too much time to spend with kids! It's been a long time sence we got out and played in snow and..." Jack cut off when he realized how Bunny and North looked at each other with sad look. Tooth and Sandy looked at them as well.

"Jack... You can't go out. It's spring. And we have to go another side of the world where is morning and kids are still awake. I'm sorry mate", pooka said sadly. All they turned to look at the winter spirit. Sandy had the most apologizing look on his face. Jack tried to smile even thought they all saw how forsed it was.

"D... Don't worry about me, I will be fine for a couple hours. It's not even that hot!" Jack laughed. Bunny however stepped in front of him and bend down a bit to look into his bright blue eyes.

"Sorry, mate. But no. You were in Warren far too long that you could handle the heat any more", Bunny almost whispered. Jack turned away from his green eyes and looked at the floor without saying anything.

"It's alright, we can do something else. Like.." North started, trying to cheer the spirit but suddenly the kid's head popped up and he had once again a real huge smile on his face.

"No! Absolutely no! You guys go and have some fun! Don't worry about me, I'm the one who does nothing but play with kids! It's your turn now!" Of course Jack would have wanted to go with others this one time they really could all play together but hey, he had just played with Bunny all day and he had all winter and summer time to play with kids, so it seariously was other guardians' turn to have fun with those little ankle-biters.

They still looked at him with worried look. Of course they would be worried about him because they would leave him alone and have fun by them self. It felt bad to leave just Jack behind, the person they had ignored for 300 years.

But Jack didn't take it personally this time. It was spring and none of them controlled it. It wasn't their fault he happend to be seasonal spirit and this just wasn't his season.

"Seariously guys, don't worry about me. Besides, I really think I need some sleep. I have been so busy with having fun that I had forgotten to sleep. So if you, Sandy, could just give me an expecially good dream, I'll be fine", Jack said smiling to the short man, who still looked a bit apologizing but still he nodded.

North saw how searious Jack was about this so he nodded with a smile.

"I promise, we will take you with us next time. This was just too sudden and if we had known about this, I would have forsed you to stay out whole day so you would be cool enough to spend whole day with us", North said, making Jack laugh.

"Don't worry, I still had a fun day after all, thanks to you, kangaroo", Jack said smiling at Bunny, who nodded back to him.

"Same to you, Frostbite."

Jack walked to the window, pulled it open and turned back to other guardians with big smile.

"Have fun for me! Sandy, come on already, I want to know what kind of dream I'll see this time!" Jack yelled as he hopped out and was thrown in the air uncontrollaby by the wind. Like a little snowflake. Sandy hopped after him to put the kid into sleep.

Bunny, Tooth and North shared a look.

They knew they wouldn't have that much fun without the kid, but they still didn't need to worry about him. To them all it would have been funnier if Jack would have been able to come with them, but it was just this time when Jack was the one who couldn't come. Like at Christmas North wasn't able to have fun with others, at the Easter Bunny was drowning in his job and Tooth and Sandy had almost never night off. Jack was usually more than able to come with them and this was the first time in years when he was left behind.

They knew Jack was really okay with that he was now the one who slept while the others were having fun.

So why did it still felt so wrong?


	19. Hector Eastland

_Six months before._

"You ready?" Pitch asked walking out from shadows and stood behind Jamie, who sat on his computer, looking at diffrent bages so quickly that to the king of nightmares it looked just mess of white and blue.

Jamie sighed annoyed without answering to Pitch. He just contiuned his work.

That made the nightmare king lose his temper quickly.

"I asked you a guestion!" He shout. That made Jamie turn around even more angry.

"Yeah, and I heard you. I just ignore you! Just sit back and let me do my job!" With that the man turned around and contiuned his work. That made Pitch smile. Jamie wasn't terrified of him anymore. These days the man was actually even worse than the nightmare king himself. Pitch let him think that the man was in control of them when actually Pitch had tragged the man around his little finger and pulled the strings like a puppet master.

People were so easy to manipulate. Jamie just made it even more easier by coming into the darkness by his own free will.

Pitch slowly floated behind the man and bend down to look at the screen of computer without really looking at it. He didn't understand this tecnology at all but that's why he had Jamie.

Jamie had been set free from the madhouse two years ago. He had forsed himself start to behave more calmly and tell everyone how silly he had been when he told everyone that Jack Frost was real. Not long after that he had been diagnosed to be mentally healty and been able to return into normal life. Well, "normal" life with Pitch Black.

"Found it!" Jamie said leaning forward to look at the screen more focused. Pitch tried to understand what was so diffrend in this page than the previous ones but he didn't say anything.

"Good. You know what to do next", Pitch said. Jamie rolled his eyes before clicking "print".

"Of course I know, this part was my idea, not yours", Jamie said glaring at the king of nightmares.

It took only seconds before he had a clear white paper in his hands.

"From now on, my name is Hector Eastland. I'm working in airplane factory as security supervisior. And in no time I will have keys in every single place in the whole building", Jamie said proundly. Pitch laughed a hollow laugh. Their plan was going perfectly.


	20. Skating and stories

**Part 20! Woohoo! This one is long one also, because next one will (again) be a short one. But this is the chapter I actually liked in so many levels. Hope you like it as much as I did!  
By the way, because there seems no-one be too sure about what Jack's sister's name is, i desited to not mention it. (thought somewhere there might still be mentionet "Pippa" because that is what I still want to think her name is. It just fits her perfectly and makes her... well, more like a real person and not just one nameless charecter in story)**

Back to present.

It had been a long time sence Jack had slept so peacefully. Sandy had made the best dream they bouth could have ever imagined him to have. The guardian of dreams really took it upon his heart to not give just good dream to him, but really special. Jack was on the lake with his sister, skating and laughing with his little sister. The ice never cracked even once. He almost dansed on the ice lightly like snowflake as his little sister struggled to stay even on her feet.

Still he spent most of their time helping his sister. She laughed. He laughed. Everything was fine.

_"It's okay, it's okay. Don't look down, just look at me" Jack said to his sister while she tried to skate to him. She laughed, looking at him._

"Jack, I'm scared!" She said, but still laughed. Jack laughed, skating backwards as she got closer to him.

"I know, i know. You are going to be alright. We are having a little fun, right?" he asked smiling, and skated once again furter from his sister when she took shaky baby steps towards him. She was scared about falling and getting herself hurt.

"No we are not! You are, not me!"

"Would I trick you?"

"Yes, you always play tricks!" Jack laughed at that. His sister was right. Not suprice she didn't trust him. Well but it was his job as the best big brother in the world. Play tricks on his beloved sister but he also was there when she needed him. Like now when she tried to skate for first time in her life.

"Well not this time. I promise, I promise: you are gonna be fine. You have to believe in me", she looked at him with open mouth. She believed her brother. If he said she would be fine, then she would believe him. Jack had never let anything happen to her. Never. She took shaky steps again.

Then the idea hit him. He should make this fun for her, not himself. And the game she loved the most was hopscotch.

"You wanna play a game? We play hopscotch. Like we play every day", Jack had to thought for a minute. Hopscotch wasn't easy game to play on ice, but thankfully he had good imagination when it came to games.

"It's as easy as one", he took one long slide on ice and pretented that he was falling over. His sister giggled. Then he laid his other leg on ice. "Two", again he let himself slide over the ice like a snowflake. Then when he said "three", he stopped in front of his sister.

That looked fun and easy enough. If her brother could do that, she could do it too.

"Alright, now it's your turn. One", she pushed herself to slide, but it was short and shaky. But it was the best she had done so far. "Two", she took another one, trying to reach out to Jack, who just kept going backwards. "Three".

She tried to stop herself but Jack had made it look so much easier than it was. Her legs give up and she was about to fall right on her face. But like Jack had promised, he didn't let his sister get hurt. Quickly he ruched to her and pulled her small body into his arms. She giggled.

"I promised you, I won't let you get hurt", he said seariously. He was a trickster and most of his time he lied. But when it came to his sister, he was even a bit over-protective. She hugged him tightly, still giggling a bit.

Holding her small body protectively in his arms, he started to skate around the lake as fast as he dared. Spinning and turning around. His legs were burning from exhaustion, but he didn't care. Her laugh filled his ears and made it so worth the pain. Finally the girl started to fall a sleep in his arms.

"It's okay. Your big brother is going to take care of you, Princess. Always", he whispered into her ear pushing her brown hair off from her face as she buried her face on his neck.

Their mother stood at the other side of the lake and he started to skate towards her.

Jack was already awake, but he didn't want to open his eyes. He wanted to dream more. His face ached from smiling so much during the dream.

He sighed and finally opened his eyes but didn't let the smile fall off. Sandy had made a good job. Giving him a good dream but not letting him live in his past too much. He had to look forward. But he was allowed once in a while dream about how things could have been, right?

Jack rised his staff, breaking the roof of his little snowbank. He had slept outside rather than in his room of North's workshop. It was cooler outside and he really needed cold right now after spending whole day in the warm Warren.

It was still dark. Jack couldn't have been sleeping more than three-four hours but that was enough for the spirit. He felt like he was stronger than for a long time. Sleep could make a huge diffrense for a tired body.

"Wind! Take me to where the others are!" Jack yelled to the wind. Happily she took his body and played with it. Jack laughed. If anything, the wind reminded him from his sister. The wind was always there and even when he didn't have power to control it, it still did what he asked. They were bouth free. Not a single soul had same kind of relationship with wind than Jack.

She was with him even when he didn't see or feel her. Looking after him even thought she didn't have really power to protect him. Just like his sister.

Jack let the wind take him to England, where the sun was still high on the sky. Clock couldn't be more than two.

Now Jack could really understand why other guardians didn't want him to come. It really was hot already. But not as warm as the Warren. However Jack knew he wouldn't have been able to handle this heat more than half an hour in the condition where he had been before. Now he had at last one and half day time to be in here.

He speeded up. He had to find the others as quick as possible. He might get there in time before the others had to go back to home.

It didn't take long before he found the others. He lanted on a tree to look at the sence.

Guardians were playing with some kids in the park. North laughed at something that the kid sitting on his lap told him. Couple more kids were on his feet, listening him and telling him some stories about themseles. Bunny was with three kids looking at the small flowers that were just opened for new spring. Tooth was with a young boy talking about his teeth. Poor boy looked a bit uncomfortable. Sandy was making sandimages to some kids who couldn't tear their eyes away from the sand.

The kids were around three to four years olds. The guardians had desided that what happend with Jamie shall never happen again. They would not let the older kids see them anymore. With kids from three to four it was safe. The kids believed in them, saw them, felt them, but they forgot them after couple years. Adults would not think those poor kids being crazy, just that they had imaginary friends.

To Jack it was maybe hardest. He loved kids in any age, but a bit older ones were able to have real fun and he could make a prank or two to them. This young couldn't throw a snowball even near him. But he was a guardian of fun after all, so he was more than able to make up new ideas how to entertein himself. He still had snowball fights with his older believers but now it was more like snowball war sence the kids weren't allowed to see him. He had to sneak around the neighbourhood and avoid to be seen and yet he had to safe his title as the champion of snowball fights.

It was actually really fun. Besides, every snowball fight (war) made his believers believe in him even more even thought they didn't see him: like the other guardians, kids believed he was there, even when they didn't saw him.

Still sometimes he took a part in normal snowball fights with kids who didn't believe in him. That was fun too. He still made his pranks and had his fun flying around the town. Sometimes some kids saw him, but always in couple years they started to think that he had been just a big bird and stopped believing in him.

This was natural. Kids believed in him, he was part of their lifes for many years, then they stopped believing in him and moved on to have healthy adulthood. Those same kids told about stories to their kids about Jack Frost, Easter bunny, Tooth Fairy, Sandman and Santa Claus and the circle started again.

Jack sat down on the top of his staff, looking at the sence with huge smile on his face. Everyone were just enjoying themseles. He didn't want to interrup them.

However, North had amazing power to sense the guardain of fun when ever he was near by. That was handy when you think about how much trouble the kid could cause in couple seconds.

"Jack, you finally came!" North laughed heartly. Other guardians turned to look at him as well, smiling to him.

But only two kids saw him.

"Jack.. Frost? Is it Jack Frost!?" One of them screamed as she ran to him before his legs even met the ground after he jumped off from the tree.

She hugged his waist as hard as she could. His eyes widened with a shok. One thing he wasn't used to was human contact. He always expected those kids, even if they believed in him, just run throught him. Slowly he hugged back the kid and immediately the other kid who saw him, one boy, ran to him, hugging him too.

"Jack Frost? Is he real?" One of the kids who didn't believe in him, asked from North.

"Of course he is! He is right here!" the girl shout back.

Jack felt pain inside him. He had more believers than ever in his existing, but still he was the most unknown of them all.

North however laughed heartly to the unbelieving kid, pulling him to sit on his lap as it was his turn to be on Santa's lap.

"Kids, it's time to tell you a story about a young, brave boy, who became a guardian. His name is Jack Frost."

And North told the story about Jack Frost. Everyone, even the other guardians, Jack including, listened him with open mouth. North coloured his story about Jack a lot. Jack didn't even recognize himself from most parts of the story, but it didn't make the story less entertaining.

When North finished the story, every single kid turned to see pale white haired boy, who still sat there, his pale cheeks a bit blushed. Well, it was Jack's version of blushing when his cheeks turned to a bit blue.

The chaos was totally suprise to all the guardians. Every single kid stood up and ran to hug the winter spirit at the same time. The kids were small but hell together they had so much power! Jack couldn't help but laugh and beg some help from others as kid's warm bodies hugged him from every direction. He tried to reach and hug as many of them as he ever could. It suerly felt good be loved and believed in.

Bunny, laughing too, pulled two kids away from him trying to ease his plight. North too took two kids. Sandy caught three's attention with his sandimages and Tooth took one girl. Jack had still one girl, who hugged him so tightly that it was hard to even breath. But he didn't mind. He just hugged her back, a bit more gentler.

"It starts to be our time to go back", North said when he realized that the another kid in his hands was starting to close her eyes. The kids needed their midday nap. Other guardians knew that too, they should let the kids go sleep, but it had been so much fun with them and Jack had just arrived so they didn't really want to leave.

"No. Jack mine. Not leaving him", the girl hugging the winter spirit muttered against his hoodie. Jack laughed a bit.

"Come on, little heart. Lets take you back home", Jack said as he stood up from the ground, still hugging the kid tightly. He never called any other kid "princess" but his sister. Because that was what she had been and always would be. His beautiful little princess.

She didn't put up a fight when Jack jumped in the air and let the wind take them to her house.

In the other hand, the other guardians had troubles with their kids. All the children fought back and refused to go home. Bunny had to run after two boys before they were on a road and gets hit by a car, Sandy tried to cheer up two girls who were crying and screamed that they would never return if they left now. Tooth was completely lost with two siblings who were fighting with each other and now they cried their hearts out. North had his hands full with two kids who tried to reason him why they couldn't leave yet. And actually never.

Come back soon, Jack.

**I just had to. I think it might be fun if Jack is the only one who can handle the trouble makers sence heself is one of them. The other guardians haven't been in contact with children for hundreds of years but Jack had always been there: he knows what the parents... Or big brothers do when their younger siblins are not cooperative. Anyway, this is it, mates. I will releace the new chapter some day in this week. Maybe tomorrow, if I'm lucky enough to get a free evening from school and work. **


	21. Don't leave your friend behind

"Everyone, please stay together, and don't leave your friend behind!"

Jamie didn't like this. He didn't like this at all. He had worked for six months as the supervisor of this airplane factory and this was, like, the thirty-sixth group of children who had come here from their school to see how the airplanes were made.

It was one thing give commands to children. Making them realize he was serious was a whole other situation.

They walked on their route around the factory. Jamie talked about everything that popped into his mind about the factory, answered the questions and, tried to keep his fake smile fixed into place as he could. In these few months, he had been taught everything he had to know about the factory - most of all what he had to do when there were some problems in the facility. That was actually the only thing he had paid attention to. He knew exactly what to do if the factory became a danger. And, on the other hand, he knew exactly how to turn the building dangerous.

That had been Pitch's goal. Jamie didn't really know why. Pitch just told him to cause as much havoc as he could in the factory. Jamie didn't see how that was supposed to cause Jack trouble, but when he asked the Nightmare King about it, he just smiled and said, "You will see."

Well, as long as it was for causing trouble for Jack, Jamie didn't need to know more.

Jamie told the kids stay with other adults for a while when he went to get their "big surprise". The kids were excited beyond belief. Only when Jamie went into the "staff only" and "danger" -marked room did he let his fake smile fall.

"Pitch, I really don't know why you need me to do this," he said out loud. In response, he got a cold, hollow laugh.

"Because I need you to understand those machines. And turn them off." Pitch smiled, his face curling into its signature evil smirk. Jamie glared at him under his brown hair.

"You understand that if I turn those off, in a couple hours, the pressure in the engines will rise so high, this whole factory will explode. I don't see how that helps me to get my revenge on Jack," Jamie said, annoyed.

Pitch didn't even bother to point out this was their revenge on Jack, not just Jamie's.

"That is exactly what we want. And you will see," the nightmare king said, making Jamie even more annoyed. Then the spirit disappeared and Jamie walked to the machines.

He turned them off and, using his knowledge about turning them on again, he removed all the chances to make them safe again. He shut down the warning bells that was supposed to tell everyone get out from the factory.

No-one could turn the machines on again. Not even him. Jamie could already hear how the engineers started to make sounds that only meant one thing: the clock was running. They had only a couple of hours to get out from there and there were hundreds of people. And only he knew what was happening in the machine room.

He turned around and took a sack of candies from the doorway. Calmly, he walked out and returned to the kids. He wasn't sure, but to him, it looked like there was a few kids fewer than before. He ignored it.

**Thank you **_**galacticEntity**_ **from beta reading! 3**


	22. The Guardian of Fun

Jack took his time taking the little girl back home. Some might wonder how he knew where the kid lived, but he just knew. He spent so much time with kids around the world during the winter, he remembered where most of them lived. This girl, called Emma, had been playing with him one day last winter.

Bunny always said he didn't remember what day of the week it was half of the time. But he remembered thousands of kids by name and where they lived. Impressive, huh?

Jack couldn't take the kid inside the house. Emma's parents would see when she got back home, so they wouldn't be too worried. So Jack gently (well, he almost dropped her a few times, but that doesn't count) laid her down just behind the front door and pushed the doorbell. Her parents immediately opened the door and wondered how their kid ended up to sleep on their doorway.

Jack was gone already.

He headed back to the others. When he arrived, he wasn't surprised that the others were still struggling with the children.

The Guardian of Fun burst into laughter. Four adults who were more than one thousand years old, who fought evil in their free-time and were strong as hell, yet couldn't get those eight children in order.

Bunny was the first to realize his presence.

"Don't you dare just stand there an' and laugh, mate! You had the easiest little ankle-biter, it's not fair you only had to take a' these devils home!" Bunny shouted as he tried to hold one struggling kid in his arms. The other sneaked away again and ran to his freedom.

"But this is way more entertaining. Besides, you guys have to learn how to deal with kids sooner or later," Jack chuckled, leaning on his staff so he wouldn't fall over from laughing.

"Please, Jack. We really should go already," North begged him as one kid pulled his beard. That's it, that kid would be getting his name on the naughty-list as soon as North got back.

Jack sighed, but decided that the others really needed his help when he saw how one of Tooth's kids almost ran under a truck. He had to step in before someone got seriously hurt. So he jumped into the air, raising his staff.

"Okay, kids, who wants to go for the last sled ride for this season?"

Every kid turned to him, raising their hands.

The other Guardians looked stunned when all the troublemakers, Jack included, stood there, ready to take off on the last epic sled ride for this season. Neither the kids nor the Guardian had ever been organized, yet Jack gave them all something to slide on and told them safety instructions. Like there were any, really.

Actually, the others could see already from the winter spirit's face that the organization was just a delusion for the kids. They listened the winter spirit like he was their leader in crime. And, of course, he was.

"It's time to have some fun!" the Guardian of Fun yelled, floating in the air a couple of feet above anyone. He let his staff touch the ground and immediately ice started to appear. Jack grinned when the other guardians fell over as well, and they slid with kids, whether they wanted it or not.

It was seriously impressive how Jack controlled nine different ice slides at one time and at full speed. The spirit himself laughed, jumped around them, danced, yelled nonsense and didn't seem to pay any attention to where they headed. But still not one of then hit anything. Not even Bunnymund.

And there was a lot of traffic. So close ones were really close ones. But Jack didn't seem to worry about their safety at all. He was more than able to keep them safe as long as he wanted.

During the slide Jack dropped the kids off at the their home's porch, but never he left the others' side. He was always there, like a guardian angel, watching over the others. The kids and other Guardians joined in laughing with him. They all trusted in him. Even when they went so fast that it made Bunny almost feel dizzy. But he enjoyed this, far more than a ride on the blasted sleigh. They went fast, yes, but he was the fastest Guardian, so he really didn't mind the speed.

He just hated to be in the air, was all. Now he was safely on the ground, so there was nothing to worry about, as long as Jack himself didn't fly into a building (waaay too many close ones again) and lose control over his ice.

When the last kid was safely home, Jack did his best to entertain the guardians. He made them go around, jump into the air, and spin around cars and innocent passers-by. They had so much fun. Sandy kept his hands up and opened his mouth into voiceless expression of jubilance.

This was the best roller coaster in the whole world.

Jack felt so... alive. That was funny. He was dead. Immortal, but dead. Fun was his job. That was funny too. He didn't live to have fun. He lived to bring fun. To him, it was fun.

He just loved the moments when he realized that he loved being alive and knew that everything was just as it should be.

**Thank you ****galacticEntity from Beta reading! 3**


	23. Forgotten prank

**First: I'm really sorry! This took so long! The reason is, my beta reader was REALLY busy, but still she tried her best to find time to beta read! Have to rise my hat for her from trying! But here it is! :D**

It didn't take long before Jack slowed down and made the slide stop softly before North's sleight. Even less time it took from them all get back to North pole. Bunny was first who arrived sence he used his tunnels. The others arrived in couple minutes later. Never before Bunny had hoped that North's sleigh would be quicker than his tunnels.

The whole workshop was in chaos. Elves were running mindlessly around and yetis were running around with a bit more sense of what they were doing. But still it was far bigger chaos than even at Chrismast evening. All what Aster could do was stay away from yets' way and wait for others to arrive.

In minutes they arrived. Jack, who got inside first, was instantly pushed away from one of the yeti's way and he desided it was safer to fly above the chaos. He saw Bunny in other side of the room and flew to him, "landing" on the ceiling and squat there upside down, looking at the yetis and elves. His staff leaned causually against his shoulder.

"What the hell did you do?" Was his first confused guestion to the pooka. Bunnymund rolled his eyes and tried to look annoyed but failed. He was too worried about what was going on.

"I was going to ask you the same, Frostbite. I thought this was one of your pranks", Bunny said. He got even more worried when he saw Jack thinking. Like really, _thinking._ Words "Jack" and "think" in same sentence never meant anything good.

"Now when you mentionet that, I may have put up a prank, but I just don't remember what it was anymore..." Jack muttered. Bunny looked at him horrified.

"So this really was your prank, mate!?"

Jack looked a bit lost. But amused.

"If it is, it really worked out better than I expected", he grinned. Bunny was just about to say something when North finally arrived.

"QUIET!"

Everyone, even Jack and every single elf, just froze where ever they were. To jolly and loving North it was really unusual to yell like that. But the affect was just what he wanted. Chaos stopped in a blink of an eye.

Then North was back into himself. Or more like searious North. Jack had to grant that North really was the undisputed leater of the group. And he was not talking about just the workshop. Something about the man just made them all, even Bunny, respect him when he was searious or angry.

"Now, tell me what is going on", North told to the nearest yeti. Everyone else listened quietly when the yeti started to mutter something in yetish. Jack felt his heart stop for a second. If this was his prank, it had MAAAYYYBE went a bit too far.

When the yeti went quiet, North swallowed. He turned to face his fellow guardians. Jack was sure that North's face was almost as pale as his own. Pleace don't let this be one of his pranks, pleace don't let this be one of his pranks...

"There is an emergency in Canada. In one of the airplane factories. Some kids are in danger. The glope reacts to it, so there must be black sand involted", North said. With that, Jack stood up in the ceiling searious look on his face. Bunnymund stood straight too. They couldn't protect every kid in danger. Kids died in car accidents and places like that and they just couldn't do anything to chanse that. But if there was someone immortal involted, like Pitch, it surely was their job to fight back.

Without saying a word the other guardians followed the wonder guardian into the glope room.

Well, almost into the glope room. But when North pulled the door open and walk in, he was buried under huge pile of snow. Bunny and Jack, who were walking right next to him, suffered the same fate.

Sandy and Tooth just stared there with wild open eyes. After they covered from shock, Jack and North brust out to laugh and Bunny jumped out from the snow faster than he ran away from greyhounds.

"Cold! Cold cold cold cold... You bloody frostbite!" Bunny yelled to laughing spirit who tried his best to get out from the snow. Tooth laughed too and Sandy giggled voicelessly.

"HAH! So this was the prank I forgot! I thought it went off days ago!" He said laughing as he looked up to the ceiling where was now a big hole so they saw the blue sky.

North, who didn't really worry about the hole in his roof, just laughed and rolled out from the snow.

"That was a good one, Jack. Only problem is that you really should remember your own pranks. But maybe it's just good for you to fall in your own traps once in a while sence we are not that good at suprising you. But seariously, we have more important things to do now", North said sanding up and walked to the glope others, exept bunny, who was still trying to get himself warm again, right next to him.

There it was. Small red dot in Canada's area. That small dot made the whole workshop react like a meteor was going to hit the world. Bunny and Tooth knew that it was the same in his Warren and her palace. The eggs, stones and fairies were running and flying around mindlessly. But those had to just hold on until they had dealed with this.

Jack flew to look closer the red mark. His heart sunk into his stomack.

"That is were Jamie is been working for a few months as security supervisor", Jack said almost whispering. The others didn't even bother to as how Jack knew that. They knew, even thought Jack had tried to keep it secred, that the winter spirit was still watching over the man. He kept safe distance so the man couldn't see him.

"We have to get there as fast as we can. Bunny, you go trought your tunnels with Jack. We would be there just to slow you guys down. Tooth, Sandy, you two come with me, my sleight is faster than eighter of you. Now GO!" North ordered without leaving space to any arguments. Bunny tapped the floor with his leg making a tunnel to appear. He jumped in, the winter spirit hot... freezing in his heels.

Bunny hopped in his tunnels like he knew them like his own fur. Well, he did. The Easter bunny had had almost 2 000 years time to make and remember them all. To Jack they were just random tunnels but in Bunny's eyes they were well organised.

So with that, the second fastest guardian have to just stay after the bunny. Witch was not that easy even for him. But he didn't want to tell the rabbit to slow down. Not only his own pride was against it but his worry about those children as well.

Surfing on his staff and casually jumping around the walls of the tunnels, he just tried to keep up after the pooka. It took time that felt like almost hours in this maze, but in reality it took only less than five seconds when he finally saw the light from new tunnel that the pooka had kicked open already. At this point, North and the others were maybe just got out from the globe room. The white hair fly out from the tunnel, landing right next to the place where had been a hole just second ago.

First his eyes saw the bunny. He was standing in his full hight and looked at something with horror in his eyes. Slowly, afraight what he might see, Jack turned to where the pooka was looking at.

His blue eyes opened slowly to be as wide as they could. His jaw just give up and his mouth was slightly open as he stared at the building.

First of, the building was _huge_. It was at last two times bigger than North's workshop. But that wasn't the reason why they stared it. The reason was that one side of the building was collapsed and it was burning. The other sides looked to be almost in perfect condition.

Also their eyes stared at the people. There were injured people, some even dead. There were children crying around. Everyone just panicked. Many adults ran just past the two guardians. The chaos was far worse than the workshop's chaos.

Bunny swallowed, looking at the winter spirit. Jack gave a hesitate look back. What should they do first?

"Are all the children out!? How about the workers? Does anyone know how many people were inside?!" One fireman yelled to the people.

One of them stepped forward. Bunny had to listen very carefully so he could hear what the man said. Jack didn't hear him, but he saw the man.

"There are six children still inside! Thirty-eight adults are missing!"

Jack glared at the man who spoke. It was Jamie. Bunny looked at him quickly, but turned his face back to the building, still listening what Jamie was saying.

"The west wind explored, but there are still three enginers that aren't explored yet. It's too dangerous be around here right now!" Jamie said.

That was all they needed. Bunny turned completely to his friend with searious face.

"Snowflake, you stay here and tell the others when they arrive: six ankle-biters are still inside and there will be three explosions like this still coming. We must get the kids out as quick as we can!" Bunny yelled above the noices.

Jack knew why Bunny wanted him to stay behind. The building was burning. There was hot. Plus every single explosiong would be fatal to him. It wasn't safe to other guardians eighter, but he would suffer the biggest damage.

But he was Jack Frost. No-one told him what to do. And he was a guardian. He was here to protect the children, not to deliver messages between the guardians. He still acted like he was about to do what Bunny said. Only to face the pooka with a small, nervous smile on his face.

"Nah, I have seen the others already. This is something new and exiting", he said, causing one, a bit relieved smile appear on Bunny's face as he gave the skinny teenager a friendly bunch on his arm. He didn't admid it outloud, but it felt better to have Jack in there, even thought this was dangerous to the winter spirit. To them bouth. It made the whole situation feel more safe when you had a friend standing by your side. A friend you could really trust with your life.

Without saying a word they just turned around and raced inside the building.


	24. Claustrophobia

They had been right. The whole building was hot. And there was so much smoke that it was really hard to see furter than your own hand. Jack felt his eyes water quickly and everything went just blurr.

"It's best if we split up. We find them faster", Bunny said, but Jack shook his head, even thought he wasn't sure if Bunny could see him.

"No, it's best if we stay together. It's just waste of time if we find a kid, but he doesn't believe in the one who finds him. It's bigger chanse that all the kids believe even in another of us", Jack said. Bunny had to attmid that the teenager was smart when he wanted to be. So he nodded even thought Jack couldn't see him.

The pooka ran as fast as he could deeper into the building, Jack floating lightly as a snowflake right after him. Even more annoying than the smoke and heat was a loud, rhythmic sound of the engenes that were still about to explore. It was really scary. Every single sound might be the last sound you could hear before explosion.

The sounds grew louder every second and that surely didn't make it less scary.

"Frost!? Where are you, mate!?" Bunny yelled somewhere nearby him, but still the winter spirit couldn't see him from the smoke.

"I'm here, I'm here. Don't worry about me, find the kids!" Jack shout back. He knocked the ground with his staff couple times. The air turned colder in second and it was much more comfortable to bouth of them. They entered in one room.

It was completely covered in black smoke. They couldn't see anything. It was hard enough to find the kids in big, completely unfamiliar building but the smoke made it impossible.

"Snowflake, I think-!" Jack heard loud cracks when something broke and then just silence. His heart stopped.

"Bunny!? BUNNY!?" Jack had never in his life yelled so much in couple seconds. He couldn't see his friend. He didn't know what happend. And the Easter didn't answer to him.

Jack tried to reach out and touch at last something. When he took couple steps forward, the ground just dissappeared under him. He fell, but lanted on his feet on the ground, holding his staff ready. Ready for what, he had no idea. He tried to see something, anyghing throught the smoke but it was simply impossible.

"Frostbite?" Jack heard somewhere left of him. He turned around and reached his hand out to feel where he was going.

"Bunny? Where are you, are you okay?" Jack couldn't hide his worry from his voice.

"Y..Yeah, I think so... I may have hurt my leg a bit, but I survive, mate", the pooka said but he didn't sound very convincing. Finally Jack's hand touched something furry.

"That's my butt, mate", Bunny muttered, sounding annoyed. Jack couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"Sorry, it's so hard to know where you are", Jack said. He felt the pooka grap his hand and just hold it, so they wouldn't lost each other again. Jack felt the bunny pull him slowly forward.

This was ridiculous. They would never find the kids like this.

Then Jack got an idea. He pulled his hand away from Bunny's paw, jumped in the air and smashed his staff right through the window.

"Hey, wind! Help us a bit!" He shout outside. The wind flew inside the room, pushing the smoke out from the broken window. New smoke appeared all the time but now they could see at last something.

The winter spirit saw the pooka down there, standing on his two legs but his other leg was bleeding. He wasn't hurt badly, but enough to slow him down.

They looked around the room. There was one unfinished airplane. It's enginer made a loud sound that almost broke their eardrums. They saw capels and wires coming out from the tank and from cabin.

"It's about to explore", Bunny said and quickly they started to search the room. Jack looked into the airplane while Bunny jumped around the room. The noise was almost unstandable loud. Bunny's ears couldn't handle it, so he stayed away from the plane.

"No-one here!" Jack screamed to Bunny, but he doubted that his voice could be heard even two meters away from him.

He came out from the plane only to see angry looking pooka.

"I tried to yell you like ten times, mate! I found one! But I need your help!" The pooka yelled over the noice.

For second Jack just stared him. It was really hard to hear anything what the pooka said. Even harder was to really understand that they really found a kid. The pooka didn't waste time. He just grapped the younger guardian after him. Jack tried to see where the kid was but he didn't see anyone. He started to think that the pooka was just pulling a prank on him, but this really wasn't the time for pranks, even Jack knew that.

The realization hit him when the pooka pointed at the ventilation. The network had been pulled off from it's entering and put down on the floor.

"I'm too big to get in there. Now it's our blessing that you are so small and skinny, mate", Bunny smiled a bit. Jack glared at him but he bent down and put his staff away from his hands. It didn't fit in with him.

Then he stopped. He realized how small the tunnel was. And it looked to get smaller in every second. He just couldn't bring himself to get in. It was hot, there was so much pressure and he didn't say it outloud but he was scared. But even if he had been in North pole in cold air and there wasn't any kind of danger, he would have never went into so small place.

"Frostbite? What are you doing, get in. The kid is there!" Bunny said but then he saw how searious look the teenager had. The realization hit him hard. "You have claustrophobia?" This was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

"I never liked tight places", was Jack's only answer. He didn't admit his phobia but he didn't deny it eighter. He still remembered the feeling when he had been frozen in bathtub. Not be able to move. Not breath. Not even close your eyes. Just lay there in lack of air all the time. On the edge of dying but just weren't able to die. In so tight place that the pressure was unbelievable uncomfortable.

But he had to get the kid out. He was a guardian of childhood. He failed his mission and his job if he didn't get the kid out alive.

He went in. He had never realized how scary it was to be in so small place. He felt the top touch his head and butt and also the walls touched his hips and shoulders. He fit in only just. It was really uncomfortable to free spirit be in so tight place.

"Kid? Kid, where are you?" Jack asked. No responce. But he heard some sobbing. He crawled forward even thought he started to feel like they really didn't have too much time anymore.

Then he faced wall. It was right or left now. He tried to hear the sobbings again but it was really hard to hear that over all those noises. Jack closed his eyes to listen. He tried to block away all his own fears of the claustrophobia and soon to happen explosion and heat. When he really focused, he heard the kid sob left from him. He turned there and moved couple meters deeper in tunnels.

He saw two pairs of legs right before him. The kid didn't move, just sobbed there. Jack saw some black sand floating around the boy's body. Jack immediately reached and touched the closest line of sand and froze it with his pare hands. The weak sand frosted immediately. Then Jack turned his attention back to the kid.

"It's alright, I got you. You are safe now, don't wor..." Jack reached out a hand and it went right throught the kid's leg.

The kid didn't believe in him.

"BUNNY! The kid doesn't believe in me, you must do something!" Jack screamed as loud as he could. The kid didn't react even in his loud yellings. He really didn't believe in him.

"Ankle-biter, You must believe in Jack Frost, okay!? He is here to safe you, mate. He is real, believe me, he is the one who makes you slip over and fall on your butt when you last expect it! He is the one who throws a snowball on you and you never get to know who throw that!" Bunny yelled. Jack could hear him only just. The kid started to calm down a bit.

"He... He is real?" He, Jack now realized the kid was a young boy, asked with no more than whisper.

"I am. Don't be afraight, everything is going to be alright", Jack said, trying to reach the kid's leg again. This time his cold hand met a warm body. The kid jumped a bit.

"Sorry, my hand is really cold, I know. Now we have to get you out from here. You like to slide on a sled?"

Jack saw somehow the kid's head move into nod. He reached his bouth hands on the boy's ankles.

"Don't be afraight, we are going to have some fun, right?" the spirit laughed. He heard one, shaky laugh from the boy.

Jack froze the whole tunnel. That didn't really eace his discomfort of being in small place but their bodies started to slide on the ice quite slowly, but far faster than they would have got out from there without the ice. Jack laughed a bit from relieve. They would be out in seconds. The kid relaxed when Jack lauhged. He joined into his relieved laugh too. Jack really was the Guardian of Fun.

When Bunny finally saw Jack's leg coming on his view, he reached out the teenager's staff and grapped the spirit's leg with it pulling the two out quicker. He was supriced when he faced two laughing kid. Then he realized that Jack's laugh was only to cover that he had been on the edge of panic attack in there, but the younger kid didn't need to know that.

"Snowflake, hang in there for a second, okay, mate? I get the kid out from here, so wait for me, okay?" Bunny asked from Jack picking the kid into his arms. Jack nodded, still laughing. When Bunny left with the kid, a tear finally fall and froze on Jack's cheek.


	25. Deaf

Even with injured leg, it didn't take long before Bunnymund was back. He was the fastest guardian after all. When he got to Jack, he saw a frozen tear on Jack's cheek. The pooka had exepted it. He didn't say anything, just reached out and picked the frozen tear off from the teenager's face. Well, it was really hard to wipe off a frozen tear, right?

"Come on, mate. We got one into safety, five to go", Bunny said giving a small smile when Jack nodded, not looking directly into his eyes.

They left from the room. Back into smoke and blindness. This time Jack stayed close to Bunny so they wouldn't get lost from each other again.

"Let's search that room next!" Bunny yelled when they got far away from the first room. Jack didn't say anything, because he actually didn't hear what the pooka said. The noice was simply too much.

"Bunny!" Jack shout. He didn't even know what he was going to say. He didn't know what made him to do it. He just pulled the giant rabbit on the ground with him. For second they just laid there, bouth of them in shock.

"Frostbite, what the..." Bunny started. If he ever ended that sentence, Jack would have never knew what to answer to him.

Luckily... Or unluckily he never had to explain his weird action. Because second later, the second engineer, the one that was in the airplane in the room they had just been, explored.

The voice was nothing like in the movies. In movies the explosions were always just one loud "bum" but now... It was like many explosions at the same time. They heard how the wall fell down and everything in the other room was destroyed. The noice was unbelieveble. The ground shake like a boat in high waves.

The first reaction was to bouth of them to cover their ears from noices. To Jack it was a bit harder sence he didn't want to let go of his staff. He almost got a heart attack when one huge piece of the roof fell right next to his head. The roof was giving in.

With pure instings Bunny moved closer to Jack and tried his best to shield the kid's body from falling pieces of the building's roof. Maybe it was because Jack was still a kid and Bunny was a guardian of childhood, or insting to protect your friend in danger, but eighter way Bunny laid on the kid and tried to cover the boy's head with his hands and sheald Jack's most important insides with pooka's body.

Jack hold his staff more tightly and tried to figure out what was going on. He knocked the floor with his staff, making the ice cover the ground and shield their bodies from the falling pieces. Bunny didn't move an inch, just laid there and still tried to keep the kid safe.

It just didn't seem to end. To them it felt like hours to wait for it to stop. But slowly the noices went away and only that was left was two of the still unexpored engineers that kept their own loud noice. But compared to the explosion, that was more like a bird sing. A bird that was far away. It felt so quiet now.

Slowly, Bunny let go of the winter spirit who dared to start to move a bit when he realized the danger was over. His legs moved. His arms moved. Nothing felt broken. He may have survived far better than he had expected.

"Bunny, you okay?" He asked. Bouth of their eyes widened when eighter of then could hear his voice. Bunny saw his mouth move, but didn't hear what he said. Jack felt the voice come out from his throath but didn't hear it come out from his mouth. It was really weird feeling.

When the first shock was over, Bunny nodded, rising a thumb to show that he was okay. Then he pointed to Jack, who nodded. They were okay. Deaf, but okay.

Jack turned to look around. The ice shield he had created had melted away in just seconds ago. The reason was surely the rising temperature. The explosion had made the room burn. There were pieces of the building everywhere. Dust and smoke mixed in the air making it hard to see anything or even breath.

Jack didn't hear Bunny moving. He just felt two big paws pulling him against strong chest and he was carried out from the room. From the heat. When the pooka shut the door behind them, they were standing in new room that was still in quite good condition. Without saying anything -sence it was pointless- Bunny put him down, not on his feet but to sit on the floor.

The winter spirit looked comfused at the pooka. First the rabbit tried to say something in old habit remembering then that the other spirit couldn't hear him. Then he gestured something.

So this was how Sandy felt when he had to explain everything without a word.

First Jack was just comfused about what Bunny tried to say. Then he realized how hot he was. His body temperature was propably at the same level as normal human's. Way too hot for winter spirit. He couldn't feel his legs from exhaustion. No wonder that the guardian of hope desited to carry him out from there.

He rised his hand to stop Bunny doing stupid tries to explain him what was going on. He understood it himself. He smiled a bit before he nodded to Bunny. _Thank you_.

The pooka sighed, looking a bit annoyed but Jack knew he was just scared and worried. Then Bunny showed new gestures. _Stay here and cool down. I go and look if here is more kids. How long time you need?_

Jack rised three fingers. Three minutes. Bunny nodded and jumped away from him, starting to ran around the room as quick as he could. Jack laid his staff against his chest so it could freeze his body faster.

That was when he saw something huge and red running towards him.

North, Sandy and Tooth arrived. He couldn't help but smile. He saw North and Tooth's mouths move fast as they tried to ask what was going on, but he didn't hear them. He just shook his head, pointed his ear.

"I'm deaf!" He tried to say outloud, even thought he didn't hear his voice. Including the looks of the others he may have yelled far louder than he had wanted. But right now he didn't care. "So is Bunny!"

Sandy jumped forward to him and made a sandfigure of a child and a guestion mark. Jack showed five fingers. Then Jack made a gesture of explosion and shoved two fingers. Sandy made a figure of Bunny and Jack pointed his hand around the room then he gave two thumbs up, then pointed at his leg, then again the room and thumb down, then his own body again, made a gesture of feeling hot and a thumb down, but then he showed thumbs up again. Sandy nodded.

Tooth and North didn't seem to understand two disabled's voiceless communication but Jack and Sandy undestood each other very well. They had always had some inside jokes and after they had got even closer Jack had started to understand the little man's thoughts a bit better than before. North was still the best to understand the guardian of deams but now it was hard to follow the communication when Jack too was silent. That was really unusual.

Sandy turned to other guardians and made a figure of five kids and arrows to any direction.

"But Jack doesn't look good, we should..." Tooth started but Sandy shook his head and smiled. Jack will be okay. So will Bunny.

With that, they left the room to look for other five children. Or four, as it turned out when the pooka really had found one kid from this room.

Bunny ran past him, carrying the kid in his arms. The kid cried, but looked unharmed in other ways. Lucky one that this one believed in the Easter bunny. Jack had no idea what they would do if one of the kids didn't believe in eighter of them. Then it would be almost impossible to them to safe the kids.

In just seconds Bunny ran back to the winter spirit.

"Can you stand?" Jack saw Bunny almost yelling but he still heard him only just. He nodded, standing up with a bit help from his staff. Their hearing was coming back. Well, Jack douped that their hearing would never be as good as before but at last they could hear something.

"The others are here, they are looking for the kids already", Jack yelled, yet his voice sounted like it was coming from the other side of the wall.

Without saying anything else, they ran upstairs to other rooms. The time was running out. They had no idea when the next engineer would explore and they had no idea where the four kids were. They ran inside the room in next floor.

Well now things just turned interesting.


	26. The two last engineers

The room was anything but comfortable to be in when the whole building shake like they were in blender. There were many walking bridges in this room and they all hung in the air only on weak looking cables.

And below them was two unfinished airplanes. The engineers kept loud noice. Even to their almost deaf ears they sounded really loud.

"Bunny, there! There is one kid!" Jack shout. He could hear his voice a bit better than before but he knew that Bunny couldn't hear him very well in all this noice.

"Where?" Bunny asked, trying to see the kid. Jack pointed into the middle of the room, on one of the bridges.

Bunny swore to god that he would kick those kids on butt after this. The kid was in the most dangerous place in the whole building. But he also saw that she was too scared to move at all. She just held on railing and refused to open her eyes. The bridge under her was shaking so uncontrollaby that it would break at any minute.

"Let's safe her", Bunny yelled to the spirit, who ran on the bridge. It cracked loudly under his light weight but didn't fell down. Bunny hesitated a bit before he jumped after the spirit.

Then the bridge give up. With loud crush half of the steal bridge fell off and sharetted on the floor. Bunny had jumped back into safety just in time and so did Jack. It was almost impossible to him really fly in here when there was so many winds blowing from diffrend directions but he was able to jump on other bridge, a bit closer to kid.

"Could you make a tunnel to her?" Jack asked but the pooka shook his head.

"Not on grid like this. The ground should be flat for tunnel. Sorry mate, you are the only one who can do this", the booka said. Jack was light as a snowflake, so his weight couldn't make the bridges fall down.

Jack jumped to other bridge and tried to find his balance before jumping to other. There were wind blowing from under, above and from two sides fom him so he really couldn't fly at all. But flying or jumping, he still got closer to the kid.

"Hey, it's okay now. You are safe now. I came to safe you", Jack said but wasn't sure if the girl heard him. She might not even believe in him.

To his big suprize the kid turned to face him, but refused to let go if the railing.

"Jack... Frost? I'm scared. I'm so scared", the kid cried. Jack's heart broke as he bend down to touch black sand around the girl with his staff. The sand dissapeared after it froze.

"Don't worry litte angel, I'm here now. Let's go home", Jack whispered but the kid still refused to let go of the railing.

"You know what? If you don't let go of that railing now, I promise I will start tickling you!" Jack said playfully. That got the girl totally off the guard. When she still held tight on the railing, Jack fullfilled his promise and tickled her.

She laughed. In second when she let go of the railing, Jack pulled her in his arms and let her wrap her hand around his neck.

"That's okay. Let's go home now, okay? Just trust me, I won't let you get hurt, little angel", Jack said. The kid was still scared but she still laughed when the winter spirit jumped on the next bridge. The bridges cracked louder now when there was more weight on them but they didn't fall down. Jack got almost back to the pooka, when finally he heard even louder crack and he felt how the ground dissappeared under his feet.

"FROST!"

That was all he could hear before loud noices caused by iron hitting stonefloor. He hugged the girl as tightly as he could. At last he was not letting her get hurt.

The first hit on something hit the air out from his lunghs but he was still falling. Somewhere far he knew the next hit would be another bridge under him. After a time that felt like forever, he hit hardly on iron bridge, his other shoulder first. But not even once he had let go of the small body in his arms. That was something he was quite broud of.

When he opened his eyes and gasped some air, he felt the kid being pulled away from him. He let go because he knew it was Bunny. The kid was alright. A bit shocked, but alright.

"Snowflake, you okay?" the pooka asked, when he was sure that the kid was okay. Weakly Jack just rised his thumb once again. His shoulder would have a nasty bruise in couple hours but he could handle that.

"And here I hoped that you would get more hurt from falling. Silly me."

The pooka and the winter spirit turned to face the black haired spirit. Pitch leaned on the other side of the shaky bridge, looking relaxed and really enjoying this little show. Bunny held the kid closer to his body as Jack stood up and rised his staff towards the king of nightmares and stepped between the pooka and Pitck. Bunny took one of his boomerangs on his hand.

"You were the one who made that bridge fall down", Jack shout. Pitch just laughed.

"Well you were doing better than I had expected. So I had to put some challense in that, right?" Pitch purred moving closer to them. Jack rised his staff but backed away. They had to get the kid out from here. The engineers were keeping so loud noice that those wouldn't hold on much longer.

"What do you want Pitch? It's not like you to want kids get hurt. You just want make them fear and believe in you, killing them was never your goal", Jack said, trying to keep the nightmare king's attention at him so the pooka could get out from the door behind them. The pooka couldn't make his tunnels on the bridge. They had to get out from there.

Pitch laughed.

"Aw, poor little spirit. This wasn't what I wanted. My idea, yes, but not what I wanted. You didn't figure out it yet? This was Jamie's revenge on you. I just pushed him in the right direction", Pitch laughed when Jack's eyes widened in terror. Jamie was ready to _sacrifise_ innosent children just to get revenge?!

Jamie was even worse than Pitch. It was one thing to want to hurt the winter spirit but dragging innocent children into this was unforgivable. Jack felt how Bunnymund got further and further from him, taking the kid into safety. He had to get some more time.

"But you failed Pitch. We all came here. We will get the kids out. You can't win us all. And light of those flames makes you even weaker", Jack said, rising his staff more.

Pitch lauhed his hollow laugh.

"Dear Jack. I know I get weak at light. But you got weak from warmth. Jamie told me everything about your weaknesses. Everything. And I don't care if you get the kids out or not", Pitch said smirking. Jack swallowed. Jamie had told every weakness of his to Pitch. How many times that man was going to hurt him in the worst possible way?

"My only goal was get you in here and make you suffer so much you wish you could die. And if I get a chanse, I will kill you. That was Jamie's wish and as much I hate to break my new toys, I might fullfill his wishes sence I too have some unpaid debts to you."

Jack knew it was already too late but he still shot out some frost on Pitch. The nighmare king simply dissappeared into shadows. Then Jack turned around. He had never ran like that. His pare feet froze the iron as he ran.

"Bunny!"

His scream made the pooka turn around. Jack didn't even need to try the exit door to know it was locked with nightmare sand. In second Bunny had turned around, the two last engineers explored.

They bouth acted just by pure instings. Bunny bend down a bit so Jack could wrap his cold body around the kid's back. The pooka reached his other hand and pulled the spirit closer to them bouth. Jack hold his staff as tightly as he could and placed it between himself and the girl. The air was cold for second, before everything turned into fire and hot air.

The pain was unimaginable. Not only the burning but their bodies hit on many things. On what, Jack didn't know. He focused on keeping the two bodies right before him as unharmed and cool as possible. He had no idea was he flying upside down or was he lying on ground. The pain just made it impossible to know what was going on.

The heat ripped his lunghs in pieces. He felt his whole body burning. The flames liched his body from everywhere. He hit his head many times in something.

But he still hold on those two bodies. And he was glad when he still felt strong paw keeping him there.

Then the paw dissapeared. Jack tried to hold on tighter but they hit on something so hard that he had to finally let go.

Last thing he remembered was the pain when his heart stopped from beating.

**Sorry, I just have to cut it in here. :'D I wanted Jack and Bunny to find and safe one kid on their own and one kid together. This was Jack's turn to safe a kid.**

Another thing I'm sorry about is that I haven't been puplishing new chapters for a while. I have my senior year in High school and final tests are coming. Fast. And right after that I have to start study to the next school I'm going. Plus I have my job. Plus our "penkkarit", as we call them in Finland, are coming so I had to make my dress ready. ;D

The thirth thing: Thank you for all your reviews and support for so long! I'm still a bit chocked that people actually like this evil-Jamie idea. :'D I'm still waiting someone to send me treath messages for that so I'm a bit afraight to look into the reviews. :D

Tell me if you want to see more evil plans what Jamie does to Jack and the other guardians! :D


	27. Bunny's rage

Bunny gasped for air when he finally reached his consciousness. That was a mistake. The smoke hurt his throath and he cough many times after that. That just _hurt_. His body was under a lot of pain. Mostly his legs but also his back and head. Funny, his front was almost completely fine.

Then he realized that he was still holding something in his arms. He turned to look at the girl. Her brown eyes looked up to him, shocked. But she was alive. Dirty and shoched, but alive. Hell, they had got the kid out from there _alive!_ That was far more than any people could say right now.

But then his eyes hit on something white right behind the girl. The pooka sat up immediately.

"Okay little angkle-biter. You are going into somewhere really nice place right now. You can do what ever you want in there. I will come to pick you up when it's time to go home, okay?" The girl nodded too shocked to start argue with him.

The pooka tried to kick the ground with his leg only to find out his body didn't cooperate. With quick look at his legs he knew they were badly burned and broken. He didn't have time to feel his own pain so he hit the ground with his front paw to open the tunnel. The kid fell into the Warren.

Bunny knew that this tunnel was short and the girl will land softly on green grass. The eggs and stone piles could take care of her for a while.

Slowly he became aware about his surroundings. They had flewn almost half a mile from the airplane factory. The explosions had destroyed almost the whole building and it was still burning.

But now he had to focuse on Jack.

"Snowflake? Snowflake, you alrig.."

The guestion froze in his throath when he turned the kid to lay on his back.

Half of Jack's face was burned so badly that Bunny could see some bones under all that burned flesh. Where the kid's left eye should be was just hollow and burned hole. A lot of blood came out from the winter spirit's mouth. The boy's neck was twisted in so weird way that Bunny knew it was broken. Jack's right leg was broken and it was bleeding badly. The beloved hoodie was torn apart.

Bunny throw up from the sight. His stomach just couldn't hande it anymore.

But that wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was that the usually unstoppable body laid there unmoving. There was no heartbeat, no breathing. Just a dead body. And Jack's deadly calm face.

"Snowflake, this isn't funny, mate. Get up. Pleace, get up... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I let go of you, mate. I was the first who let go..." It was a long time when Bunny had broken last time that way. He liftet the limp body in his arms and tried to push white hair off from the kid's face. But Jack didn't even stirr.

"He will wake up. Sadly. To him, I mean. He will be in so much pain for days before he is completely healed."

Bunny rised his look at Pitch. The king of nightmares looked at him with a smirk. Immediately Bunny tightened his grip of Jack, holding the kid protectively against his chest. He couldn't ran. He couldn't take Jack into the Warren. The poor girl had seen enough for one lifetime. She shouldn't see a dead, bleeding and burned body.

Fur on the Pooka's back and neck rised up and Bunny started to keep deep, growling noice. The bigger guardian carefully let the kid lay down on the ground as he stood up on all fours not showing even a bit the pain his legs were screaming to him. His body shealed the Ice prince almost completely from the Nightmare king. That made Pitch's smile fall a bit. Even when Bunny was hurt... Hell, even when Bunny was a _bunny_, he was able to be really frightening when he wanted.

"Go away from him. You don't have any right to breath the same air with him!" Bunny shout, throwing one of his boomerangs at Pitch. The black man was so suprized that he dudged it only just. But when the boomerang was coming back to it's owner, Pitch shot out black sand and hit the boomerang somewhere far behind the pooka.

"Now, play nice and I promise I will try too", Pitch said angrily. Then his features softened again.

"And he isn't breathing right now so tecnically I'm not breathing the same air as him", he pointed out.

"But he will rise again. Like phoenix, he will rise from dust. But only _if_ he is immortal", Pitch said softly, making Bunny look at him confused. Jack was immortal, so of course he would recover from this. So what..

The pooka looked at the spirit. Jack was a kick-ass brat. There was no way he could be really dead. He should get the boy in somewhere cold and then he could just recover, right?

"You focuse in wrong thing", Pitch said.

Bunny's heart stopped for a second. Jack was immortal, yes. But only as long as something kept him in the world of living. The boy didn't have actually anything. Exept the one thing he kept always with him. The one thing he had protected with his body alonside the kid and the pooka. The only thing that had survived unharmed from the explosion just like the girl.

Bunny turned around and tried to reach out for Jack's staff. It had been there when he woke up, but he hadn't paid much attention to it. Now it was gone. Or worse, it was in Pitch's hands.

The staff looked dead and black in Pitch's hands when he let his long fingers caress the wood carefully. That almost made the pooka throw up again. Thinking that Jack's immortality, Jack's soul, was in Pitch's filthy hands. Something so pure like freshly fallen snow and innocent like childen's believe was in hands of someone who would never undestand those things. Pitch had no right to even be near something so beautiful.

"How much power one simple wooden staff can hold. Power of life and dead. And when I snapped it in two last time, I didn't even realize how much it meant to him. I didn't realize that he was mortal then. Mortal who could still froze everything around him. Mortal who could survive from a long fall into ravine. But he wasn't able to heal himself anymore. Just one stab into his heart and there would not be the guardian of fun anymore", Pitch smiled at the memory and looked back at the pooka.

"Jamie told me everything Jack had told him about his powers. Now he is in so bad condition that if something happens to his staff, he never wakes up. That is propably something he wishes himself too right now. The pain must be killing him inside out over and over again."

"Give it back!" Bunny shout as loud as he could.

He had never been so scared in his life. He knew Pitch was going to kill his little brother. And he couldn't do anything to chanse that. He could only watch when Pitch took everything he loved away from him. First all the other pookas, now Jack. His heart couldn't handle this anymore. The pain was simply too much.

Pitch lauged. He feasted with the guardian's fear. He lived with children's fears but guardian's fear was something so much more powerfull. It was like a sweet piece of heaven.

"If you want it, you can go and find it yourself!" Pitch yelled and turned around to throw the wooden staff into the burning building with his nightmare sand. Bunny throw his another boomerang at the same time. It hit on the nightmare sand just in time. It knocked the staff far left, but it still dissappeared into the collapsed building and into the flames.

Bunny's whole world stopped right there. Jack was dead. He had failed his friend, his brother, his fellow guardian and his family. He had failed North and Tooth, who had lost a son. He had failed Sandy who had lost a little brother. And most of all he had failed Jack. Jack always counted on him with his life. Jack always believed in him, looked up to him like a real little brother. Jack had been a real pain in the ass, but Bunny had loved the kid's every single white hair. Every single laugh. Every single prank. Now he wished nothing more than Jack bring some snow in Easter. Something, anything that proved the kid was still alive.

Pitch's laugh reached his plurr mind slowly. He hadn't realized he had buried his face against Jack's white hair and cried his heart out right there. There was a new feeling after emptyness. There was anger. No... This was far wrose than anger. This was wrath. The pooka had never in his existing felt anything like that. All he wanted to do was rip Pitch and Jamie in pieces one part of their bodies at the time. He wanted them to suffer the same pain he felt right now. But he doupted that those who couldn't love anyone, could ever feel like he did.

With pure rage he stood up on his broken and burned legs and ran towards the king of nightmares. He throw his boomerang to fly so quickly that there was no way he could explain after this how he did even saw it coming back. He just put all his anger into every throw. Pitch had seariously troubles to keep up with the pooka.

So he had to play dirty.

Pitch melted into shadows and appeared right next to Jack's body. He took the boy in his arms and made a knife from black sand. He placed it against the boy's throath.


	28. Counting bodies like sheep

That made the Pooka stop finally. All he could do was stare at Jack's dead face. He knew Jack was dead and there was nothing to chance that. But he still didn't want Pitch to hurt him any more. Jack had suffered enough, let his body rest in peace.

"Please, don't do it", pooka almost whispered, lowering his boomerang as he did. He couldn't tear his eyes from Jack's peacefull face.

He heard North and Tooth coming closer to them but he didn't turn away from Jack. He heard how Tooth gasped. Propably about the condition where the two boys were. And North mutter something in Russia and throw his swords out.

Pitch laid his chin gainst Jack's neck and leaned his head against the boy's face.

"Aww. Kiddo, your whole family is here to selebrate your dead", Pitch whispered making the two guardians shout in anger.

"He is not dead! And we are not here to selebrate nothing but your fall!"

"We are here to kick your ass!"

"No, mates... He is right... Snowflake is dead...And that is my fault..." Bunny muttered. That made the other two went quiet. Bunny wasn't sure if they even believed him, but he didn't care. Nothing mattered at that moment.

"Yes, your bretty little friend here lost his life because that rabbit lost his focuse in important moment. Twice. It's his fault that he is dead", Pitch moved his hand to touch Jack's face, his lips, his cheek. That made the guardians, spesially Bunny and North, bristle with anger. "It's his fault you all lost the person that kept you all together. It's his fault you all lost... ARGH!"

Bunny's ears went down against his neck in that yell. He could only stare with wide eyes when Pitch shoved Jack on the ground and kicked the boy. The nightmare king hold his hand. There were teeth marks. Too familiar ones to the pooka.

"Bunny, stay with Jack!" North yelled when he and Tooth started to fight with Pitch.

Bunny was shocked. He ran to Jack only to find that the poor boy was trying not to cry out from pain. He struggled to breath and he was clearly in so much pain that it really was more like torture.

But he was alive. How? Bunny didn't even care right now. He felt hope rise again inside him.

"It's okay, it's okay, you are safe now, mate. I'm here with you..." Bunny muttered sweet nonsenses to the kid.

He didn't even know if Jack heard him, but it calmed his own nerves to be able to even speak to the kid. He still tried to figure out what was going on. Jack twisted on the ground in pain. Bunny realized that the broken neck was already healed and snapped back to its place but nothing more wasn't healed yet. Jack's lunghs and insides were still torn and his body was mostly only burns and broken bones and cuts.

He was suffering.

Bunny saw something golden from corner of his eye. He turned to look at it and saw Sandy. With Jack's staff. It was unharmed and looked normal to him. Bunny let out a small laugh of relief. Sandy had saved it. Sandy had saved it before it would burn.

The pooka reached out and took gently the staff. It was the only thing that kept Jack alive right now. He treated it like it was made of glass.

"How did you get it?" that was his only guestion.

Sandy made a sandfigure of himself and from the burning building. He was standing nearby the window. Then small figure of Jack's staff came into view. It was flying towards the other side of the building, that were Sandy wasn't. Then a boomerang came and kicked the staff into other direction. The staff flew right into Sandman's hands.

That made Bunny laugh a bit. He had saved the kid after all. Well, he and Sandy bouth. It felt like a huge weigh was lifted off from his shoulders.

"Thank you... You safed him, mate..." Bunny whispered. Sandy smiled, making an arrow to point the pooka and himself. Bunny smiled a bit. But then his smile dissapeared when he remembered that Jack was still in pain.

"Sandy, knock him out. With your dreamsand!" Bunny atted the last one quickly when he saw the little man's face turn a bit confused. Seariously, Sandy always misunderstood him when it came into making someone fall into sleep.

Sandy flew to Jack and dropped some dreamsand on the boy. Jack fell a sleep, but he still twisted on the ground and whimpered in pain. Sandy looked a bit sad. Even his good dreams couldn't ease the boy's pain.

Then the small man turned to face Pitch, who was still fighting with Tooth and North. The nightmare king would pay for this. No one messes up with Jack but Bunny when someone asked him to put the kid back in the order. And Sandy when he was on mood to tease the kid. And maybe North when he wanted to make the winter spirit so embarassed that he couldn't look at the others for weeks. And maybe Tooth when she wanted to look way too long Jack's teeth so the kid started to feel really uncomfortable.

But no one else.

The guardian of dreams flew to Pitch and started to fight with the man. Bunny stayed behind, sitting next to the winter spirit and touched the kid's face. Jack was sweating. And that was something he never did.

Bunny was only now starting to feel the pain in his legs. It freaking hurt. Like his whole lower body was burning. His left ankle was pointing in weird angle and his right kneel was bleeding badly.

But he was alive. Thanks to that young boy who was fighting for his life. Well, Jack couldn't die as long as his staff was okay, but his body was still on the edge of living and dying. Without Jack, the last Pooka would be suffering from more pain and maybe even died and the girl would be dead for sure.

And now he couldn't do nothing to ease the kid's suffering. Jack whimpered in pain and fear as his dead pale cheek leaned to Bunny's touch. His breathing was guick and shallow. That made the Pooka's heart broke. Jack was so scared, so much in pain and he surely didn't deserve this. He had just taken a shot for his friend and for a stranger child.

Bunny snapped out from his thoughts when he realized that he had been almost thinking what Pitch had said: Maybe Jack wished he was dead so he wouldn't need to suffer this much. But that was a lie, right? Jack couldn't possibly want to die.

Right?

Bunny stayed next to Jack, not paying much attention on the fight. He knew the other guardians would win Pitch easily. Pitch was much weaker than he had been those years ago so the others were fine. He still wanted to rip off every single stinking piece of the nightmare king and Jamie and feed them to crows but Jack needed him more.

The guardian of fun whimpered from pain all the time and there was nothing what Bunny could do to ease the kid's suffering. All he could do was stay there and whisper some nonsense when he felt like Jack may hear him.

After a long time the fight finally stopped. Pitch ran away. In seconds all of them were around the two wounded guardians.

"We must take you two back to North Pole. Now", North said before he bend down and picked the light boy on his arms and started to walk towards the sleight. Tooth and Sandy flew bouth sides of the pooka and helped him to his feet. They almost carried him to the sleight but the pooka didn't fight back. He couldn't use his tunnels with a broken leg so the sleight would be much quicker this time.

But he still had that one guestion that had bothered him ever sence he woke up after explosion.

"How about the Ankle-biters? Did you find them all?", Bunny asked. Tooth looked a bit troubled

"We got found four more. They are safe and unharmed. So one is still missing", Tooth said with no more than a whisper. She knew that there were nothing they could to that little kid anymore.

However, Bunny smiled.

"Don't worry mate, she is fine. Jack and I found the last kid. Or more like Jack found and safed her. She is now in Warren. Whitch reminds me, could you get the ankle-biter out from there? She propably wants to go home already", Bunny asked where Tooth nodded.

The pooka knocked the ground with his unbroken leg and opened his tunnel. Tooth flew in and dissappeared from the view. Bunny walked into the sleight with help from Sandy and Jack's staff. Well, he still treated the wooden staff like it could broke even when a butterfly lanted on it so mostly he was supported by Sandman.

Sandy helped him to sat into the sleight as comfortly as he could. Jack was on the floor of the sleight, mouth open into voiceless scream of pain.

"Don't worry frostbite, we are back home in minutes", Bunny said quietly. That made North smile a bit. Bunny really loved the kid more than anything. Like they all did.

North tried to keep the fly as even as he could. The last thing Jack and Bunny needed was be tossed around sleight. What they all needed was to get back home.


	29. Stronger

"I can't believe you!"

Jamie was angry. Or rather furious. Pitch sat in his black throne, caressing his nightmare horse with his long gray fingers. He didn't look happy. He was pissed.

"Not my fault that Sandman happend to be in right place in right time. In other hand Jack would be dead right now", Pitch said mostly to his horse.

Jamie walked towards the Nightmare king and stopped to stand one foot away from the spirit. That was when Pitch slowly turned his attention to the angry man.

"That is not what I meant. You put children in danger. That was not in our plan!" Jamie yelled to Pitch's face. The Nightmare king smirked as he leaned back a bit.

"Got a soft spot on children? You are just like the guardians. Soft. Weak", Pitch muttered glaring the man from head to toe.

Really, Pitch didn't want to kill kids. But he saw in Jamie's deepest desires. Jamie's deepest desire was to see Jack suffer for the rest of the enternity. No matter who else got into crossfire. But at the same time Jamie fought with his old principles to not hurt innocent. It was fun to look how Jamie's desires fought with his believes.

Putting children in danger was a test for Jamie's loyalty. Will he turn his back in the second he realized that he was like Pitch, his childhood's worst enemy. Or will Jamie contiune on his road of revenge?

Jamie had to think about it a while. He was really suprised when he realized that he actually didn't care about the children's safety. He didn't care if they were dead or alive. The man wasn't sure what he was supposed to think about this new feeling.

He had always been so caring and loving. Now he just didn't feel it anymore. He had chansed. For good or bad, he wasn't sure. All what he had believed before told him that he should be worried about this lack of real feelings. But something in his brains told him other ways.

So maybe this was good. He was strong. He didn't have to think about how many suffered from his actions. Jack Frost had people he loved. Jack had weaknesess. As long as Jamie didn't care what happed to children he was able to hurt Jack over and over again.

He was stronger than Jack Frost himself.

Pitch's eyes widened when he saw Jamie brust out into laugh. Not a happy laugh. It was a hollow laugh without any feelings. It was worse than Nightmare king's himself.

But then the laugh stopped as quick as it had started and Jamie stared at Pitch as angry as he had been before.

"No. I'm not like the guardians", then Jamie bend over to glare at Pitch's golden eyes so close that Pitch felt Jamie's breath run over his grey skin. Pitch didn't even blink.

"What I'm not happy about is that the guardians aren't going to hold back anymore. We are not threat to only them anymore, but now to children as well. So they are going to fight back with all their powers. If you hadn't put children in crossfire, it would have been easy to destroy Jack. He is too soft to kill anyone to safe himself. But if we are a threat to what he loves, he is going to protect it until he dies", Jamie whispered never letting his eyes turn away from Pitch's golden ones.

But then he stood straight again, still glaring at Pitch. They needed a new plan.

"They are going to take care of Jack and Bunny until they recover. Then they are coming after us. So we must make a plan.." Jamie went quiet. His eyes widened a bit.

Pitch smirked again leaning back in his throne. That was the face Jamie made when he got an idea.

Jamie took his fake identity papers from his pocked and lighted them into fire with a lighter. A small twisted smile on their faces the Nightmare king and the man watched as Hector Eastland dissappeared from the world.

"Now, my friend. We are going to take away everything Jack Frost loves. One piece of the puzzle at time", Jamie said quietly before he let go another hollow laugh.

He didn't even remember anymore how it felt to have real fun.


	30. Big Brother

It took two weeks before Jack was healed enough to woke up. Everything was painfull and blurr but it felt good to finally see something. Even thought his other eye was completely covered with something. Jack tried to move a bit to see the room he was in, but the pain shot to him like thousand draggers.

He groaned in pain.

"Jack? You awake?"

North's voice came from his left. Jack tried to turn his face to meet the man but his neck protested immediately. Like it had been broken and then twisted back to its place.

By looking at the sealing he reconised this to be his room in Santoff Claussen. It was easy to reconise because Jack had decorated it himself: half of it was blue with white snowflakes and white frost. The other half was white with blue snowflakes and blue frost. He had painted the roof to look like night sky with full moon sence he had got more used to sleep outside during his 300 years of isolation. Seeing sky made him feel safer in his new home.

It was cold, so all the six air fresheners in his room must be turned to full power. It felt comfortable to him. The coldness danced on his skin freezing him over and over again. It really felt nice. Specially when he remembered that it was spring outside already. Usually at this time of year he would be isolated in to Antarctica.

Suddenly his whole body stiffened when he tried to sit up quickly.

"Where... is Bu...Bunny? And the kid? Are they okay?" Jack asked as North tried to calm him down.

"Relax, Jack. They are fine. The kid is back home with her parents, safe and sound. And Bunny is just taking a little walk. You have been sleeping for two weeks", North said as Jack calmed down, his body tense from pain but he still smiled a bit. He had safed Bunny.

North was wearing his usual heavy coat to keep himself warm in Jack's cold room.

"Tell me everything. What happend?"

North had almost finished the same story that Bunny had told him when the same pooka returned into the room.

It was weird to see Bunny standing with help of crutches. His bouth legs were wrapped into bandages. And his whole body was wrapped in huge coat, propably one of North's. With that he looked warm enough to really be in Jack's room without shivering sencelessly. But he looked normal in other ways. Even a bit annoyed and angry when he saw that Jack was awake.

"So you deside to woke up just when I'm gone? You bloody frostbite, I was in this room for two weeks and you plan to woke up at the only time I'm out? That is just mean, mate. And you didn't even came to tell me?" the last was pointed to North, who looked a bit ashamed.

Jack gave a weak but real laugh.

"Sorry Bunny. Maybe I just woke up because your bad breath wasn't here to knock me out over and over again", Jack joked now when he knew Bunny was unable to physically attack him. He could annoy the pooka as much as he could and not have to pay for it. Perfect.

"My breath doesn't smell bad! And you should thank me that you self don't smell bad right now mate! I had to wash you when you were uncounscius before you start to stink sweat and blood", the Pooka said fake annoyed. It really hadn't been nice to bathe the kid. The burns bruises and cuts were not bretty sight on skinny and white skin.

If it was even possible, Jack paled as he looked at Bunny with his only eye.

"You... Undressed me while I was sleeping? You touched and saw me when I was naked?"

Okay that sounded far worse when it came out from the kid's mouth. Even North turned his face to the pooka, who now looked really uneasy. Seariously, this was not supposed to turn out to look like he was a pedophile!

"No! I mean. Yes. But I just washed you! Nothing more! Besides I was focused on keeping the water from freezing over rather than your nudeness! And if you hadn't noticed before, I'm always naked so I don't see your issues of nudeness what so ever!"

That's it. Jack and North cracked to laugh their asses off. Well, to Jack it ended before it could really even start because of pain but he still looked amushed. Bunny couldn't help but let a huge grin to appear on his face.

North stood up from his chair and walked to the door, past Bunny.

"I have to go and take care of the workshop. Bunny will look after you now", North said to Jack, placing his huge hand on the pooka's shoulder before he went out.

Without saying anything, Bunny walked to Jack and sat down on the chair next to the kid.

"Thanks. North said you and Sandy saved my life. Thanks..." Jack said a bit akwardly but still thankfully. Bunny smiled a bit too fondly to his usual style.

"Actually I should thank you. You safed my and that kid's lifes. Without you we would have died in one second", Bunny said.

They smiled to each other for a second before Jack realized how hard it was to tell distans with just one eye. Bunny seemed to be far closer than he really thought the pooka was.

"I wonder if my eye will ever heal", Jack said out loud as he -ignoring the pain- rised his hand and touched the bandage that covered his left eye. It felt so weird to have just a hole where your eye should be.

Bunny chuckled a bit.

"If I know something about you is that you will always heal, ankle-biter. Your eye will came back. Just don't poke it all the time, then it will heal faster", Bunny earned a light laugh from the smaller guardian.

"You are one to say, you were on walk with broken leg and North told me you were running like hell with it in the battle!" Jack said with a laugh.

Bunny smiled at first but then his face fell a bit and he started to look at his paws rather than the winter spirit. Jack's smile fell too. Had he said something wrong? He had meant it to be compliment about Bunny's strong will and courage. He had been just about to apologice when Bunny started to talk.

"Nah, my leg healed a long time ago. North just demands me to still use crutches until he is positive that my leg is really okay. He said he won't let me come in here without them", Bunny said with a small smile but then it fell again when he finally looked at Jack's face. "You have no idea how scared I was. I saw your neck being twisted to weird angle. I saw freaking bones poke out under your skin. You were bleeding from everywhere. There was not a single inch of your skin that wasn't cut or burned. You weren't breathing, I couldn't hear your heartbeat...

I just lost it. I didn't think about your staff, I was too worried about you. Pitch took it before I realized what was going on", Bunny's ears were bend down to eighter sides of his face. He was ashamed of his stupidy in battle. That had almost cost Jack's life.

Jack looked at his brother for a while. Then he started to lift himself into sitting position, whimpering a lot from pain as he did.

"What you are doing, Snowflake!? Stop it, you will just hurt yourself! Lay down right n..." Bunny tried to push Jack back to bed by pushing the kid's shoulders as gently as he could. The boy whimpered even more, his lower lip trembling from back hold cry of pain.

But when Bunny tried to push him back into the bed, he lifted his other hand and laid it behind Bunny's neck. He gently pulled the Pooka in one-armed hug.

That made the pooka stop from moving in any direction. He just half stood, half sat there without moving an inch as Jack tried to calm his breath against Bunny's warm neck. Eighter of them moved anywhere for a minute. Then Bunny slowly, carefully placed his strong arms around Jack's thin body.

"It wasn't your fault. I would have been just as panicked if I had seen you in the same position. Never, ever dare to blame yourself about this, okay?" Jack whispered.

He didn't need a response thought. The winter spirit felt how the bigger guardian started to shake from small sobs and something warm and wet fell on his pare shoulder. Ignoring his pain, Jack sat up a bit better and wrapped his bouth arms around the Pooka. At the same time Bunny moved to sit on Jack's bed so they bouth could be a bit more comfortably.

It was nice to comfort someone else when they cried. Jack had been almost always the one who was crying. For once he was able be there when his big brother had a weak moment.

**The end? Heh, nope. :D This was a season finale. I will write season 3 as soon as I can, but as you can see, I don't have that much time to write anymore... I'm really sad about that, because I have at last 4 diffrent stories planned already but I just don't have enough time to write them. :/**

Anyways, this was the season 2. :D Hope you enjoyed! 3


End file.
